Monday, September 22, 2008

Nashua River Clean Up - Oxbow

On Saturday, my girlfriend and I went over to the Oxbow. I knew we had made great strudes toward cleaning it up this year, and really wanted to finish it up.
Until now, she hadn't really carried much in the way or trash - she's new to kayaking this year and I didn't want to have her grossed out right away;-). But Saturday I picked up a new laundry basket and bungied it to her kayak and we were off.
A couple of weeks ago we had the rain from T.S. Hanna, so generally that type of floodwater moves the debris downstream. Some of the debris found it's way back into the Oxbow, so we got to work.
I'm really proud of how she did. Especially since that was her first experience with a basket full of pungent trash. She didn't puke, so that's good!
Well we went from the Oxbow downstream to Hospital Rd. and collected just about everything! There are probably a few bottles here and there, and one large plactic thing - like a Barbie play house or something, but it's all clear of tires, propane tanks, etc. Now with that effort, we're basically all clear to Rte. 111 in Hollis, NH.
I understand there was an effort on Sunday to clean up between 117 and the Oxbow - that's a good thing because the last clean-up effort wasn't very thorough. That should make next year's cleanup a bit easier.

Monday, September 8, 2008

Nashua River Clean-Up - Rt. 117

A few weeks ago I went to the Oxbow and there were signs posted about a clean-up project that some volunteers had done. I say good job, thank you for the assistance! However, I went back on that stretch on labor day and discovered that perhaps their claim of "all-clear between the Oxbow and 117" was not quite what they said. I DO appreciate the effort they must have put in, and the river does regularly deposit new material, but check out this stuff - it's NOT brand new - and all of it was between Rt. 117 and the Depot. And this wasn't even all of it - I didn't even start taking pictures for more than a mile or 2.

A tire and some trash...

Big pile of trash...


Paint bucket and a fire extinguisher..


A sled...

Another tire and a propane tank (I took one with me too.)


And another big pile of trash...


Now, I want to repeat that I'm sure the volunteers put in a good effort, but don't claim to have cleaned it all up if you have not.