Photo: Iowa Rivers Revival
(Polk County, IA) -- Organizers of a big river-clean-up in Polk County say they made an impressive haul this year. Nearly 70-volunteers pulled more than 16-hundred pounds of trash from Fourmile Creek during a clean-up event last Friday. Iowa Rivers Revival Service Squad organized the event, as part of a larger clean-water mission, adopted by several non-profit groups, the city of Des Moines and Polk County.
Commissioner Lee Tesdell, owner of Tesdell Century Farm, spoke on the importance of collaborating for clean water. He said, “I’m trying to learn as much as I can about leaving the land and the water in better shape than when I arrived here. For the common good, [some] things that we do on my farm wouldn’t necessarily be beneficial to me, but they might be to people downstream. That’s what stewardship means to me.”
The IRR Service Squad has partnered on 91 similar events so far this year and cleaned up more than 61,000 pounds of trash from Iowa waterways with a coalition of 50+ stakeholders.
Fourmile Fest occurred as part of the River Run Trash Grab (R2G2), and was organized in partnership with ICON Water Trails, Athene, Polk County, Trout Unlimited, Polk Soil & Water Conservation District, City of Des Moines Parks & Rec, SILT, and Polk County Conservation.
Photo: Iowa Rivers Revival