Successful River cleanup, Sunday March 25 - Holly to Fenton
Bruce Allen, Debbie McCarty, Dennis Terry, Greg Schovan and I worked on
the Shiawassee River yesterday. Greg and Dennis went up stream from
Fish Lake Road and cleaned out one small blockage. We then went down
stream as a group and opened the way to Strom Park. There are a few
logs that are overhanging the river but since we could get under them
sitting up in a rowboat, we left them. There will be more falls in the
future as more of the dead ash trees fall into the water but for now it
is clear sailing. As we were doing the cleanup, we ran into a person
who kayaked down from Holly, named Mike. I don't know his last name but
he stopped and helped us for a while. He told us that there were no
other blockages from Holly to Fish Lake road. Thank you Mike. One of
the neighbors whose name I don't know, said that we could pile the trash
we picked up in front of his house and he would dispose of it. That is
much appreciated. We had one bag of trash and a tire. Many thanks to
our group as well as people who preceded us down the river. The weather
was sunny and warm. The water temperature wasn't bad either. If the
weather stays warm, we may do more cleanups this spring and not wait
till summer.
There were several people fishing on the river with boats that had come
down from Fish Lake Road and we saw people coming up stream from Strom
Park, just enjoying a nice paddle. The guys fishing said that they had
caught and released one good sized pike. We saw no sign of current
beaver activity. It would appear that trappers have caught them all.
There are no beaver dams left, but there is one abandoned beaver lodge
that you can see in the river still. We saw several service berry trees
along the river with hundreds of beautiful white blossoms. It won't be
long before the marsh marigolds and trillium bloom. It is a great time
to get out and enjoy the river.
Chuck Julian
Bruce Allen, Debbie McCarty, Dennis Terry, Greg Schovan and I worked on
the Shiawassee River yesterday. Greg and Dennis went up stream from
Fish Lake Road and cleaned out one small blockage. We then went down
stream as a group and opened the way to Strom Park. There are a few
logs that are overhanging the river but since we could get under them
sitting up in a rowboat, we left them. There will be more falls in the
future as more of the dead ash trees fall into the water but for now it
is clear sailing. As we were doing the cleanup, we ran into a person
who kayaked down from Holly, named Mike. I don't know his last name but
he stopped and helped us for a while. He told us that there were no
other blockages from Holly to Fish Lake road. Thank you Mike. One of
the neighbors whose name I don't know, said that we could pile the trash
we picked up in front of his house and he would dispose of it. That is
much appreciated. We had one bag of trash and a tire. Many thanks to
our group as well as people who preceded us down the river. The weather
was sunny and warm. The water temperature wasn't bad either. If the
weather stays warm, we may do more cleanups this spring and not wait
till summer.
There were several people fishing on the river with boats that had come
down from Fish Lake Road and we saw people coming up stream from Strom
Park, just enjoying a nice paddle. The guys fishing said that they had
caught and released one good sized pike. We saw no sign of current
beaver activity. It would appear that trappers have caught them all.
There are no beaver dams left, but there is one abandoned beaver lodge
that you can see in the river still. We saw several service berry trees
along the river with hundreds of beautiful white blossoms. It won't be
long before the marsh marigolds and trillium bloom. It is a great time
to get out and enjoy the river.
Chuck Julian
