Mom says, “Clean your River.”
Post-cleanup trash haul
We honored Mother Earth this Mother’s Day. Armed with bags donated from the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, we took a group of paddlers, including some from the Cumberland River Compact, out on the water. After some quick instruction, we paddled at the Smith Springs Recreation Area on J. Percy Priest Lake and pulled out debris from the lake’s shores (often there is some debris in the water itself, but the water levels are high, so most of what we found was on the water’s edge).
We found broken boat seats, lawn chairs, beer bottles, bottle caps and milk bottles, not to mention fishing lures and plastic gloves and items that could not be identified (see photo). One of our volunteers took the bags to the dump afterwards.
We love paddling and feel grateful that we have so many access spots in Middle Tennessee. It was great to spend a sunny (if windy) day playing on the lake, but also giving back a little bit. We’ll schedule another clean up day later in the season. Let us know if you want to join us.