Northwest Florida proudly bears the moniker “the canoe capital of the world,” but this title may not shine so bright if the waterways upon which these canoes, kayaks, and tubes travel collect trash from thoughtless vacationers and natural debris, like leaves and branches.
The Leave No Trace Program, headed by retired Captain Walt Reese, USN promotes skills and ethics to support the sustainable use of wild lands and natural areas. This year marks the 30th anniversary of the program’s Northwest Florida Rivers clean-up, and they need help. “There is no reason a soda can or beer can can’t return in the cooler,” Reese said. Five years ago saw the heyday of volunteerism, averaging roughly 585 volunteers between 2007 and 2009. However, since 2011, those numbers haven’t broken 200. Reese said budgetary problems hindered military involvement in the clean-up in recent years. He suggested church youth groups and 4-H may be likely to take part. Walter Schumann, with the Blackwater Pyrates, said the Pyrates always take part and last month had 30 to 50 people on the rivers collecting trash. However, they can’t do it alone.
According to Reese, local canoe vendors are lending a hand with the effort. He said, “On week days, local canoe vendors will provide a limited number of canoes to organized river clean-up groups. Trash cleaned out of the rivers and turned in on return of the canoes is considered to cover the price of the canoes.” Three of those vendors include Adventures Unlimited, Bob’s Canoes, and Blackwater Canoes. Frequent visitors travelling the rivers tend to know to bring sunscreen, bug spray, and water, but to those new to gathering trash on a river, Reese also suggests bringing a long-handled net or some kind of grabber to reach garbage.
Litter on the waterways already has a local impact. Lee King, owner of 3,100 acres across from Bob’s Canoes where the Backwoods Hunting Club operates covers two exit points for Coldwater Creek. King said, “Every weekend I can pull two to four bags of trash, not counting what’s going down the creek.” According to King, this trash comes from local Santa Rosa and Escambia County river visitors as well as other tourists. King said the sheriff’s department can’t patrol all the time. He’s tried posting “no dumping,” “no parking,” and “private property” signages near the creek, but finds the posts destroyed. King said if he let the trash go it would collect further into Milton. “It will all reflect back on us in the end,” King said, words applicable to the necessity of keeping all Northwest Florida rivers litter free. For further information, contact Captain Walt Reese at 623-9808 or email him at waltr1@bellsouth.net.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: River clean-up needs volunteers