The TV Table

Recently, our river restoration efforts and this blog site caught the eye of Greg Vandergrift from KARE 11 News. Accompanied by Deb, his photojournalist, we paid a visit to the fishing pier just south of I-694 on the Mississippi River (part of Three Rivers Park District). That is the location of an oversized debris field; the pier naturally catches the logs and trash which have floated downstream with the spring run-off.

During their visit to the river, we were able to explain the different types of trash and debris we’ve found in the river, and some of the ways we go about cleaning it up. We also proved that we know when to quit: A tire proved too dangerous to dislodge from a log jam under the pier, so we left it.

I also had the chance to briefly demonstrate how geo-trashing is done (the process of geo-tagging trash). We came across a busted-up picnic table that was floating upside-down near a spillway. I paddled up to it, captured a waypoint on my GPS device, and then paddled back a few feet to take a photo of the object. That simple: Photo of object, stamped with location of object.
In case you wanted to see the object featured in the new story, it is shown above (and you can click to enlarge it). Below, there is a Google Map showing where the table was trapped in the water (as of 5-18-08).

NOTE: Anyone who attempts to recover the items listed in this posting does so at their own risk. Please adhere to the safety instructions and guidelines provided by the DNR. Finally, let me know if you either intend to remove one or more of these items or debris fields, or that you have succeeded in doing so. Simply share your success story email, and we’ll be happy to publish it at CleanUpTheRiver.com.

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© 2008 Mike D. Anderson, Crystal, MN.