Milwaukee Riverkeeper’s Spring River Cleanup

If you’re going to go out and enjoy a walk along any of Milwaukee’s rivers, now may be the team to do it. This past Saturday approximately 3,000 volunteers, myself included, descended upon Milwaukee’s river beds to clean up everything we could.

This was the second year I had participated in the event, and I elected to work at the North Avenue/Hometown site again this year.  Our group of 49 aimed to clean the east Milwaukee River bank from the former North Avenue Dam to just south of Locust Street. Walking under the bridge for the first time is always a reality check, especially this year, where it appeared seven individuals had made been living there

It will be interesting to observe how the new UWM dorm on the Hometown site will affect the number of homeless individuals living under the bridge next year (and the amount of garbage).  One would assume it would have the affect of reducing the number living there, and also reducing the amount of garbage.  Unfortunately this doesn’t solve the obvious issue, that there are too few beds for the less fortunate in our community.

Other sites, as the Journal Sentinel story indicates, aren’t about cleaning up the land around the river, but cleaning out the actual river itself.  It appears sites along the Menomonee and Kinnickinnic Rivers are hotbeds for shopping carts and other non-natural things to inhabit the rivers.

If you have a chance to next year, participate in the 2009 river cleanup.  It’s a great opportunity to volunteer, as your hard work is immediately visible.