Media & Events

Living Lands and Waters and American River Transportation Company collaborated to clean up part of the Illinois River on Tuesday morning. With multiple locations throughout the Mississippi River basin, both organizations demonstrate how important it is to make an effort to clean the river.

Tammy Becker started the operation in 2019 with her husband, Chad Pregracke, the man behind Living Lands and Waters. It was her job to dispose of plastic recovered from rivers, but few places were willing to take it.

The workshops are through Living Lands & Waters and aims to teach students about job opportunities available through the Mississippi River.

Fifty oak trees were delivered to Neponset Grade School on Tuesday for select students in honor of Earth Day. The trees were donated by the Living Lands and Waters Organization in East Moline, as part of their Million Trees Project.

Student volunteers from around the country came to Memphis to volunteer with nonprofit Living Lands & Waters to remove trash from McKellar Lake.

College students spending spring break by a body of water is nothing new. However, through an “alternative spring break” program, Illinois-based nonprofit Living Lands & Waters made such a trip an opportunity for students to learn about and clean up that body of water instead of simply sunbathe beside it.

On April 22, guests can make a difference by enjoying their favorite Culver's meal. 10% of net sales made from 73 participating Culver's restaurants will be donated to Living Lands & Waters an organization with a goal of cleaning up America's rivers. Since 2021 the campaign has raised over $100,000.

Culver's restaurants across the country are gearing up for Earth Day, partnering with nonprofit Living Lands and Waters.

For the fifth consecutive year, Culver’s restaurants across the Midwest are rallying behind Living Lands and Waters in celebration of Earth Day.

Seventy-three Culver’s restaurants across the Midwest will donate 10% of their net sales on Tuesday, April 22, to Living Lands & Waters, a nonprofit environmental organization based in East Moline dedicated to cleaning up America’s rivers.

10% of net sales on Tuesday, April 22, will be donated to river cleanup organization

Local conservation groups bring Chad Pregracke and his inspiring story to Springfield for an Earth Day celebration.

Ford’s Tennessee Electric Vehicle Center at BlueOval City workers and volunteers prepare to help clean debris from McKellar Lake on Thursday, April 10, 2025, at Riverside Park Marina in Memphis, Tenn.

Chad Pregracke is the founder and president of Living Lands and Waters, a nonprofit organization dedicated to cleaning up America's rivers.

Plastic water bottles. A broken truck tail light. And a lot of Styrofoam. These are just some of the things LSU students pulled out of the water on a recent river clean-up trip in Memphis, Tennessee.

Saturday March 8, 2025 the 6th Annual Oberholzter Awards were hosted by the Nahant Marsh organization at The Bend event center in East Moline, Illinois.

Since 2010, volunteers with Living Lands and Waters have bagged hundreds of thousands of pounds of trash, and starting Monday, they are back again to tackle the problem.

Chad Pregracke of East Moline, Illinois, will receive the Pacem in Terris Peace and Freedom Award, an interfaith award overseen by the Catholic Diocese of Davenport.

“If you see a problem, you can do something about it. Cuz typically, we created it.” This is how the film Study Aboard starts out, and it sets the appropriate tone for the rest of the evening of the 11th Wild & Scenic Film Festival, in Invermere and online!

A group of over 30 volunteers from American Commercial Barge Line has teamed up with the nonprofit organization Living Lands & Waters in an annual effort to remove trash from the Ohio River's banks.

Living Lands and Waters teamed up with Jeffersonville based American Commercial Barge Line to clean up the banks along the Ohio near Joe’s Crab Shack.

Experts say they pulled over a thousand pounds of garbage from the river shore in just an hour.

This barge was constructed by Living Lands & Waters (LL&W), and it’s on the river specifically to educate young people about career opportunities on the Mississippi River.

A barge filled with trash, including dolls, collected from the Mississippi River and the Ohio River is docked along Serpentine Wall

The cleanup by Living Lands & Waters extracted at least 50 vehicles, including a VW Beetle, a Jeep, a tow truck with intact boom and winch, a station wagon...

A significant river cleanup effort in Downtown Pittsburgh resulted in dozens of decades-old cars and lots of debris being removed from the water.

Environmental Protection Agency officials who oversee four regions of the U.S. gathered Tuesday on a floating classroom on the Mississippi to discuss issues facing the river.

Pittsburgh River Rescue had dived multiple times on the areas dredged by Living Lands & Waters, but Linn said parts of the rivers remain a mystery.

Illinois-based nonprofit Living Lands & Waters' cleanup fleet first tackled recyclable metal debris — things like cars and bicycles — but will soon pull fiberglass boats, pieces of old docks, and other non-recyclables out of the water.

But a cleanup effort by Living Lands & Waters, an Illinois nonprofit, pulled more than 100,000 pounds of metal out of the Allegheny River in just two days.

The demolition claw — its dirt-brown metal fingers guided by an excavator’s gray 50-foot-long arm — plunged Tuesday afternoon into the cloudy, brownish-green surface of the Allegheny River in search of discarded pieces of Pittsburgh.

Living Lands & Waters will be excavating up to 100 abandoned cars and boats from Pittsburgh’s three rivers.

Polyconcept North America is sponsoring efforts by nonprofit Living Lands & Waters to excavate abandoned cars and boats from the bottom of the Allegheny, Monongahela and Ohio rivers this week.

In the past couple of days, tons of debris, much of it from cars, has been removed.

Crews pulled dozens of car parts from the water on Tuesday afternoon. Channel 11 was there as experts scraped the bottom of the river and came up with things like old axles and fenders.

And, thanks to a partnership with non-profit Living Lands & Rivers, thousands of pounds of old cars are being removed from our rivers this week into next.

If you’re in Owensboro, you’ve probably seen the large graffitied barge docked at English Park. It’s all a part of a nationwide nonprofit to clean our rivers.

Rivers are Life teamed up with Ducks Unlimited, Friends of the Fox River, Louisiana State University, Dow, and the Richard Childress Racing (RCR)Team - including Austin Dillon, driver of the No. 3 Dow Chevy, and his pit crew - to clean up a portion of the Mississippi River.

Dennis Honkomp and his 11-year-old chihuahua named Sammy were enjoying the Living Lands & Waters (LLW) Barge Party on Thursday night, June 13. While Sammy got a few treats, Mr. Honkomp enjoyed the food, drinks, music and relaxed atmosphere at Beacon Harbor in East Moline.

Living Lands and Waters held their 2024 Barge Party Thursday evening, showcasing the future home for their headquarters and one of their classroom barges.

When I first learned about Chad Pregracke several months ago, I was blown away. I was shocked I did not know about him already. Everyone knows about Greta Thunberg, but not about Chad Pregracke?!

In partnership with the John Deere Classic, Living Lands & Waters is set to give away 1,929 trees that will be planted around the community. If that number seems a bit specific, the organization intends to plant one tree for each birdie scored in the 2023 John Deere Classic.

Living Lands & Waters (LL&W) is working with the John Deere Classic to make the Quad Cities even greener by planting nearly 2,000 new trees.

Living Lands and Waters reached a milestone in its Million Trees Project on Thursday. The organization planted its 2 millionth tree.

Living Lands & Waters celebrated a major milestone by planting their 2 Millionth tree. The 2 Millionth tree was planted at Arconic, and the organization says it’s a site of special significance to the organization.

Officials with Living Lands & Waters planted their 2 millionth tree on Thursday, May 2. The landmark tree was planted at Arconic in Riverdale, IA.

Culver’s restaurants around the Midwest are partnering with Living Lands and Waters in celebration of Earth Day for the fourth consecutive year. On April 22, 10 percent of net sales from over 80 participating Culver’s locations will be donated to Living Lands and Waters.

DAVENPORT, Iowa (KWQC) -The Quad Cities is fortunate to live along 2,300 miles of opportunity. That’s what Living Lands & Waters calls the Mississippi River.

Living Lands & Waters’ new educational barge has a history that goes back nearly a century. “I wanted a working structure, something that had a story of its own,” said Chad Pregracke