Rivanna River Alliance Celebrates the Success of Volunteer River Clean-Up

In a statement on their Facebook page (www.facebook.com/RivConAlliance), the Rivanna Conservation Alliance (a nonprofit watershed organization founded in 2016) celebrated that “The third annual River Round-Up was one for the books!” This River Round-Up took place on Saturday, Sept. 24. 

The Round-Up involved groups of volunteers walking and wading at various sites chosen by the Rivanna Conservation Alliance or working to clean up spots near their neighborhoods. The Alliance provided them with plastic trash bags, gloves, devices to grab trash from a distance, and other useful supplies. The locations for this clean-up included Greenbrier Park and Moors Creek.

In addition to cleaning on foot, the Round-Up also saw volunteers and Rivanna Conservation Alliance members cleaning the river in paddle boats. These efforts were focused around Brook Hill River Park and an area downstream from Palmyra. Volunteers who did not have access to boats of their own could use boats from the Rivanna River Company (a local canoe and kayak rental and a supporter of the Rivanna Conservation Alliance).

The volunteer turnout on Saturday was large, with a combined total of 243 volunteers working in groups to remove 148 trash bags full of litter from the Rivanna and surrounding streams and trails. In the message on their Facebook, the Rivanna Conservation Alliance thanked “everyone who paddled, bushwhacked, and waded to make our watershed a cleaner place for everyone.”