Year-end report for Adopt-a-River

As a participant in Minnesota's Adopt-a-River program, I file a report with the DNR at the end of each season about the amount of trash that we've taken from the waterways we enjoy. This year, my haul was relatively small (compared to last year), which I blame on the move... and the health-related time-out I was forced to take in August and September.

Paul Nordell from the DNR responded to the report with a kind note, pointing out that there is merit in the effort; even if it has slowed, it has been steady:

Mike,

Thanks for your report. It is always good to see persistence in the task. That is the ultimate goal of the program. Persistence is what changes things. Heroic results are always nice, but they are just flashes in the pan. Before AAR and its ilk enter an area, certain trash items remain on the landscape until nature itself either dissolves it, corrodes it, grows moss over it, buries it into a geologic strata, or simply washes or blows it away. If only a few items are out there, we think it is rustic, but when it is large, newly deposited, or appearing in great abundance, the damage to the view, the wildlife and the resource in general becomes clearly irritating. Thank you for reducing the irritation on our public waters. We [the Adopt-a-River program] have now tallied just over 5.7 million pounds of trash since 1989.

For the public waters,

Paul Nordell

About the same time, Eva Johnson from the DNR sent an email, noting our progress, specifically:

"...You have now removed 1,620 lbs over the course of 13 cleanups since your formal adoption began in early 2008."

Certainly, I should be able to clear the one ton mark by late spring.

© 2010 Mike Anderson, St. Michael, MN. All rights reserved.