Living Lands & Waters 2008 Accomplishments

River Cleanups- LL&W coordinated and participated in 83 community-based river cleanups with over 1,300 volunteers who helped to collect 250 tons of garbage--a bittersweet record for LL&W!

Big River Educational Outreach- We spread the message and mission of LL&W to over 2,500 educators and students through on-the-river workshops and in-school presentations.

Riverbottom Restoration Projects- We worked in 5 states with a dozen different partners to plant 4,800 trees and prairie cord grass plants, and to remove 3 acres of invasive species. 

MillionTrees Project- Over 55 individuals and groups gathered an estimated 338,000 acorns this fall for planting in our Beardstown, IL, nursery.  Our first saplings should be ready to harvest next spring. 

Adopt-A-River Mile- The Adopt-A-Mississippi-River Mile Program currently has 92 groups cleaning 210.1 river miles, and the new Adopt-An-Illinois-River Mile Program is growing with 5 groups caring for 24 miles.

Year in Review

January/February- We started the year by planning for upcoming projects and events.  Most of us spent the winter repairing equipment and building 2 new boats and trailers, while 2 other crew members worked with local volunteers in Louisville to remove 3 acres of invasive Japanese Honeysuckle.

March- Once again, we kicked off the season on the Ohio River in Louisville, KY, where we hosted 2 weeks of “Alternative Spring Break” cleanups with 59 students coming from Monmouth College; SUNY Geneseo, NY; Hobart College, NY; and Heartland Community College (Chad’s alma mater!).  We also coordinated the first ever Xstream Cleanup in the Louisville area, spearheading a cleanup of 21 sites on streams and rivers in the area.  By the end of the month, we had filled one and a half barges with garbage!

April- Plans to head to New Orleans were diverted due to high water down south. So, because there was plenty of debris in Louisville, we stayed through April and hosted a series of community cleanups in honor of Earth Day.  LL&W was featured on the Sundance Channel’s Big Ideas for a Small Planet show focusing on water.
 

May- The barge moved downriver to Paducah, KY, where we cleaned for 2 weeks.  In mid-May we took our work boats to Biloxi, MS, for 5 days to assist with the Renew Our Rivers project, a local cleanup of neighboring rivers, streams, and marshes.  During the month, we also coordinated 17 smaller cleanups along the Illinois River. 

June- In the first week of June we hosted the second annual Marine Industry River Cleanup Challenge in Paducah, KY, with 190 marine employees taking part.  We also coordinated 12 smaller cleanups on the Mississippi River.   The barge then moved from the Ohio to the Mississippi River, just north of St. Louis, MO.  Throughout early June, the Midwest was hammered by rain.  When the river began rising to record levels, we assisted with sandbagging efforts in mid-Missouri for 2 weeks.  Once the river crested, we headed north to Cedar Rapids, IA--the area that incurred the most damage from this summer’s flooding.  Within the first week of cleaning on the Cedar River, our crew and volunteers removed 170 boatloads—the most concentrated amount of debris we had ever encountered. 

July- We continued to work in Cedar Rapids through the middle of July, recruited 100 volunteers to assist with the flood cleanup, and then took some much needed time off.

August – In August we were back in full gear and hosted our annual cleanup in Burlington, IA.  Just a few days later we hosted a cleanup on the Illinois River with 240 volunteers.  We then joined members of Project AWARE for a canoe-based river cleanup of the Winnebago, Shell Rock and Cedar Rivers in Iowa.  From there we returned to our home base in the Quad Cities to host 680 guests at our annual barge party, and to co-host the Quad Cities’ Xstream Cleanup and River Roots Live Music Festival.  Mid-month we headed north to the Wisconsin Dells area to clean the debris on the Wisconsin River that was the result of the devastating breach of Lake Delton.
 
September- We spent another week on the Wisconsin before returning home to the Quad Cities to embark on our MillionTrees’ acorn gathering and tree planting efforts.  We also helped coordinate a cleanup in Gulfport, IL, and planted 250 trees on an island on the Illinois River.  At the end of the month, Chad flew to New York City to be honored as one of Field & Stream’s Heroes of Conservation of 2008.

October- We sorted and planted 338,000 acorns in our MillionTrees’ nursery in Beardstown, IL.  We also hosted an educational workshop, and planted 200 trees and 800 prairie cord grass plants in Columbia, MO.  Closer to our home port, we planted an additional 1,800 trees along the Mississippi and Rock Rivers and then traveled north to plant approximately 500 trees along the Mississippi River in Minnesota.

November/December- We worked with partners and volunteers to plant 1,400 trees in Calhoun County, IL, at the confluence of the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers. We have also been cleaning up the barge, preparing for the final shoot of LL&W’s show with the Discovery Channel, and making plans for 2009.  

Thank you for making this all possible!!