Annual River Rescue attracts over 900 volunteers

Full dumpster upstream from downtown Knoxville at Gov. Ned McWherter Park

The 23rd annual River Rescue, coordinated by Ijams Nature Center, was held two weeks ago. The annual event cleans up public shorelines from Ijams downstream along the Tennessee and Clinch Rivers at Knoxville, Melton Hill, Norris and Watts Bar plus a few urban streams. (Some of these small waterways were the most heavily trashed!)

Although all the numbers are not in yet, this year's River Rescue attracted at least 976 volunteers who picked up more than 1669 bags of trash weighing roughly 27,267 pounds and at least 454 tires from over 50 locations.

Special thanks to the Water Quality Forum, CAC AmeriCorps and the hundreds of people who helped make our local rivers and streams look picturesque once again.

And thank you sponsors: Green Mountain Coffee, Mast General Store, Chaco, First Tennessee Foundation, Kimberly-Clark, Erie Insurance, TVA Employees Credit Union and EarthFare.

Below are a small sampling of photos taken that day.

- Photos and text by Stephen Lyn Bales

Jake Hudson (with Peg Beute) unloads one of over 450 tires collected this year.

Sabrina DeVault proudly models this year's River Rescue t-shirt 
properly accessorized with bags o' trash. 

Volunteer Alma Holland and her haul along the shoreline at Marine Park. 

Boatman David Stair and Jessica, Rosa and Josh, three volunteers 
who cleaned up Looney Island.

Some of over 14 tons of collected trash.

Ijams staffer Kara Remington and Josh Rowe, one of over 900 volunteers.  

Volunteers worked remote shorelines with the aid of Capt. John Farmer

Left to right: Sabrina, Kara, AmeriCorps' Courtney Washburn, Lynn Miller 
and Peg modeling three years of River Rescue t-shirts.