CFRW Program Director Joe Abbate stepped away from the river over the 4th of July weekend to concentrate on his other job: running nature tours in the Intracoastal Waterway, around Wrightsville Beach, and on Masonboro Island aboard his 28′ customized beach catamaran: M/V Shamrock. But with thousands of patriotic revelers gathering on uninhabited Masonboro and hundreds of boats rafting up in the channel behind the island, the area was left a little lot worse for wear.

A few phone calls were made and an informal clean-up was mounted on the morning of the 5th. Joe and 7 friends headed out to Masonboro and commenced bagging and loading. And bagging. And loading. And on and on. By mid-morning Shamrock was fully loaded and it was time to return to the dock.

One of Joe’s phone calls had gone to Clif Cash and James Shelton of Green Coast Recycling (who have helped out on CFRW clean-ups and are also active in the efforts to save Island Creek from Titan Cement.) In addition to barrels, bags and their own hard-working selves, Clif and James brought their recycling truck to meet Shamrock at the dock. They filled it. To the very top.

The crew bagged, loaded, shipped, and transferred an estimated 1,500 lbs of beach trash by 11:00am. And by 11:30 Joe was back on Shamrock leading visitors on a nature tour of (a cleaner) Masonboro Island.

And how was your 4th of July weekend?

Photos for CFRW by Alan Cradick

Go ahead. Read that sentence again. 7,000 pounds. Now consider that 2 of those 3 clean-ups took place in the cold rain. Granted, the volunteer crews did knock off at noon on the rainy days rather than the usual 1:00pm, but that kind of dedication is worthy of recognition and applause. Go ahead. Clap.

In addition to the usual assemblage of plastic bags, styrofoam cups, fast food wrappers, bottles, cans and discarded car tires, volunteers have picked up television and computer remnants, the discarded front door to somebody’s house, and a full and sealed IV bag. Enough trash had accumulated in a tributary of Smith Creek near Maides Park to effectively dam the creek. River Watch volunteers removed the trash dam and restored flow to the creek.

Where does it go from here? April’s clean-up is scheduled to take place at Greenfield Lake on April 19th (the Saturday closest to Earth Day.) Judging from the effectiveness of the River Watch volunteers thus far in 2008 and the experience of previous years’ clean-ups at Greenfield Lake, the City of Wilmington had best send more than one dump truck to remove the expected trash haul. The recent low water in the lake due to repairs to the outfall dam has shown that too much of the lake’s more than 5 miles of shoreline is strewn with trash. CFRW is hoping for/expecting a big turn-out to put a big dent in that mess. It’s little early to make real predictions, but so far the long range forecast is calling for sunshine and temperatures in the 70s. We’re due.
Greenfield Lake is one of the hidden jewels of Wilmington and it shines even more beautifully in the spring when the cypress begins to leaf, the dogwood blooms under the long leaf pine canopy, and the thousands of azalea bushes that ring the lake explode in color. It’s about the prettiest spot in the world to pick up trash.

As with previous years’ Greenfield clean-ups, this years effort will include both land and water components. Since so much of the lake’s shoreline is approachable only by water, many volunteers will be using canoes and kayaks to get where the trash lies. For those who aren’t comfortable plying waters of a lake with multiple 14 foot alligators in a tippy canoe, there will still be plenty of trash to pick up on shore. Sometimes it seems that azalea bushes exist solely to catch blowing McDonalds wrappers.

If you’d like more information about how you can help with April’s big Greenfield Lake cleanup contact either Bill Murray or Joe Abbate at River Watch. Until then, just consider that first number again, 7,000 lbs, and take your hats off to a great crew of volunteers.

8 watershed cleanups completed. 141 volunteers worked a total of 557 hours to remove more than 202 bags of trash from various watersheds.
Held a workshop for Stormwater Services employees. This was a hands-on workshop completed in cooperation with NC State University Extension Service. The employees learned two techniques 1) how to stabilize stream banks using native vegetation and 2) how to harvest and use plant materials from City wetland areas.
10 public seminars were completed with 159 participants.
11 school field trips programs completed with 193 student participants in a variety of educational experiences at Greenfield Lake.
61 Greenfield Lake eco-tours completed with between 250 to 300 people learning about the flora, fauna at Greenfield Lake and its water quality challenges.
We were an active partner in the Burnt Mill Creek program. Five large BMPs were installed in cooperation with the NC State Extension Service. Six backyard rain gardens were completed in the Bottoms neighborhood.
36 Enviroscape presentations were completed. We brought this water quality educational experience to more than 844 students. We spent 236 volunteer hours and staff time completing these presentations.
We contributed speakers to the Birch Creek Week program.
9 Greenfield Lake Monitoring reports were completed with photo documentation.