Smith River Clean Up 8-4-12

OK folks here is a heads up, we need you to put the Smith River Clean Up on your calendar. Don't plan on anything else for Saturday, August 4th because here is a chance to back up all that "I'm for a clean environment" with action. In other words put in some "sweat equity". Smith River Trout Unlimited, Dan River Basin Association and Gateway have teamed up to conduct a 30 mile clean up of the Smith River from Philpott Dam, downstream to Eggleston Falls. (See attached flyer)

Obviously a massive effort such as this requires lots of help - that is where you come in. If you belong to an organization such as hiking or paddling club, church group, bowling league, professional organization, neighborhood watch, fishing club, etc, etc we'd love to have you adopt and concentrate your efforts on a predetermined section of the river for the day. If you're an individual or just a couple of fishing buddies we'll pair you up with others to hit a section of the river. We'll provide gloves, safety vests, litter bags, drinking water and a limited number of canoes. If you're going to wade you should bring your own waders. If you or your group have access to canoes or small Jon boats they will come in handy for transporting trash to centralized pick up points. We even have some jobs for those who do not want to wade or are otherwise unable to get wet.

We're setting up headquarters at Gravely Nature Preserve, 2525 Eggleston Falls Rd, Ridgeway VA. All volunteers are asked to assemble there prior to 9:00 am on Saturday so we can get a headcount and pass out safety equipment and assignments. We will assemble there again at 2:30 pm for an assessment of work accomplished, work still to be done, group photo and a cook out for all participants. Several members of SRTU will also be available after the event to fish with "out of towners" who may want to learn more about the Smith River Fishery.

Stay tuned for additional information. If you have questions or would like to volunteer for a specific task or section of the river contact SRTU VP Lisa Hall at 434-713-1888 or email love2fish247365@aol.com

We have new flyer which I will post below. This clean up is covering the entire 31 miles of trout holding water so we need all the help we can get. Everyone complains about trash and those of you who fish the Smith know it is known as "A Trashy River" - time to put a morning of sweat equity where you heart is - and did I mention we have free food and opportunity to go fishing afterwords.

Great story in the Martinsville Bulletin about our August 4th clean up. http://www.martinsvillebulletin.com/article.cfm?ID=34071

Hope you're planning to join us for this history setting event. We have jobs for everyone. Cook out afterward and lots of door prizes. Great chance to meet like minded people and maybe learn a new section of the river. Go fishing afterward.

We need everyone to grab a family member, neighbor, fishing buddy, paddling companion or just anyone off the street and bring them out to help with the Smith River Clean Up this coming Saturday, August 4th. Bring your waders, gloves, shovel and canoe if you have one. If you can't or don't want to wade we have land based jobs for you.

We will assemble at 9:00 am at Gaverly Nature Preserve, 2525 Eggleston Falls Rd, Ridgeway, VA. (Plug that address into your GPS and it will bring you right there. It is not far from the race track) - Cook out and lots of door prizes for participants at the end of the day. Let's make this the biggest and best Smith River clean up ever!

The clean up was a unqualified success. More then 150 folks showed up and pulled tons of tires and trash from the river. Kudos to the small handful of folks who did the planning. Big pat on the back for all the folks who showed up to give a hand. It was nice to see lots of folks from south of the Virginia boarder. Turn outs such as this do not go unnoticed by the "powers to be".

Check out the Smith River Beautification page for photos - expect you will be seeing more as Lisa, Liz and Brian write up their after action reports and post some photos. https://www.facebook.com/LitterPickers