Riverkeeper, KNB lead river cleanup for 25th year

The St. Marys Riverkeeper and Keep Nassau Beautiful held the 25th annual St. Marys River Cleanup Saturday.

So far, as final counts are still being tallied, more than 200 Nassau County neighbors volunteered their time to help clean up just in the county. Early numbers also report around two tons of litter being cleaned up from Nassau County alone.

In previous years, the Riverkeeper has reported more than 350 volunteers keeping upwards of eight tons of litter from entering the Atlantic Ocean via the St. Marys River. This year, more than 400 volunteers signed up to clean up litter all through the watershed, from Creekside Drive off SR 200 to Kings Ferry in Nassau County and from Camp Pinckney to Okefenokee in Charlton County, Ga.

“We want to preserve the pristineness of our St. Marys River and its tributaries for current and future generations,” Executive Director of St. Marys Riverkeeper Emily Floore said. “We want to be sure to protect the wildlife that either use the river or the surrounding ecosystem as their habitat.”

Floore told the News-Leader volunteers had cleaned up windshields, tires, dressers, a bike and even a fridge caught in the trees bordering the river.

Lynda Bell is the executive director of Keep Nassau Beautiful. In her experience on Saturday, much of the litter gathered and disposed of came from the boat ramps and under the Shave Bridge.

“It’s super important to keep the river clean,” she said. “But even around the watershed, all of this eventually makes its way to the waterway and to the ocean, and the danger, of course, is the impact to wildlife.”

According to the St. Marys Riverkeeper, more than 160,000 residents in Florida and Georgia rely on the St. Marys River for safe drinking water, tourism and recreation, not to mention the countless plants and animals that also rely on the health of the river to sustain their own health.

Litter affects plants, animals and people alike. In the ocean, dolphins, seals, birds, turtles and other animals can mistake plastic trash for food. The plastic they ingest can block their intestines or make them feel too full and starve them to death, as reported by Trash Hero, an organization dedicated to educating people on the effects of littering and taking action to clean up the environment.

Cigarette butts in particular are a nasty source of litter. Dropped in the water, the chemicals leach into rivers and oceans, poisoning the water for the animals that live there. And when humans eat the fish they catch from the river, it can become detrimental to their health, as well.

Keep Nassau Beautiful runs programs such as Adopt-A-Road and Adopt-A-Spot, where organizations can formally “adopt” a section of land and volunteer to keep it clean. The Litter Getter program is also available to individuals and small groups who might want to help clean the landscape. More information, including how Keep Nassau Beautiful can help provide supplies for cleanups, is available via its website.

After the cleanup, volunteers were treated to lunch at White Oak Conservation in Yulee. The White Oak animal haven is more than 17,000 acres and is home to endangered and threatened species such as the Mississippi Sandhill Crane, the Florida Panther, tigers, Asian elephants and the Somali Wild Ass.

The St. Marys Riverkeeper has challenged everyone to pick up 152 pieces of litter before June 22, the end of the Great American Cleanup initiative run by Keep America Beautiful. If everyone picked up 152 pieces of litter and no one littered again, the Riverkeeper said, there would be no more litter on the ground.

“We’re definitely going to be doing this again next year,” Floore said. “Keep an eye out for further cleanup opportunities because it’s the best and most direct positive impact that you can have on serving your St. Marys River and its watershed and all the tributaries.”

hdorman@fbnewsleader.com