Jump to content


Clean the Green


  • Please log in to reply
16 replies to this topic

#1 Guest_jblaylock_*

Guest_jblaylock_*
  • Guests

Posted 21 July 2011 - 08:38 AM

I plan on attending this event. If any locals would like to attend, please let me know and maybe we can ride together to save fuel costs. Also, after the event will be lunch. If possible, I would like to take an aquarium and with the help of a partner, show off some of the fish found in the Green River. Also, we could stick around and collect a bit if everyone would like.

Register Here:
Kentucky Waterways Alliance

Posted Image

#2 Guest_farmertodd_*

Guest_farmertodd_*
  • Guests

Posted 21 July 2011 - 12:15 PM

I wish I could be down there for that. We decided to skip getting data from the Green this year due to time constraints. It would be ideal to do this project, get my science, and then enjoy the resource! This is a neat place, if you're near, you should take Josh up on this!

Todd

#3 Guest_jblaylock_*

Guest_jblaylock_*
  • Guests

Posted 07 August 2011 - 02:00 PM

Clean the Green was yesterday. This was a great event, and I encourge anyone who can to try to make it next year. Kentucky Waterways Alliance and The Nature Conservancy of KY sponsored the event. There were 3 paddling trails to take. Many canoes were provided by Green River Paddle Tails. My wife and I took the 2.3 mile trip so I could be back and setup my tank. After the clean-up was food, bluegrass music, and prizes.

Here's my wife and I with the garabage we picked up. Most of it was sheets of metal. But, we also got a racing slick tire, couch cushion, countless cans/bottles, and an old metal bedpan :-& . Representing NANFA
Posted Image

Volunteers getting ready start cleaning
Posted Image

Posted Image

Here's a pile of trash just from the short paddle trip
Posted Image

Posted Image

After the clean-up. My wife and I seined a short riffle and collected several fish for a 20L tank to setup. I had a decent display of fishes, including: 1 beautiful Spotfin that was in near breeding, about 10 Orangefin Darters, Greensides, and several Tippecanoe Darters. I also had a couple Northern Studfish, and some Common Shiners. For some reason I didn't take any pics of the setup, but the water was kinda cloudy until it had been setup for a while. The kids REALLY enjoyed it! There were several adults that were interested in it as well. The people of KWA and The Nature conservancy really like that the Orangefins are only found in the Green River and that I had just caught all those fish at our location. I had one nice conversation with a gentleman that was very interested and took down the NANFA name. All in all, there was a lot of interest in the native fish display.

There is another clean-up that will be going on in early September on the Poor Fork of the Cumberland River in Harlan County KY. I will again be there and will be setting up a tank. If anyone in the tri-state area (KY, VA, TN) would like to help, I'll be posted more info later.

Edited by jblaylock, 07 August 2011 - 02:02 PM.


#4 Michael Wolfe

Michael Wolfe
  • Board of Directors
  • North Georgia, Oconee River Drainage

Posted 07 August 2011 - 03:10 PM

Here's my wife and I with the garabage we picked up. Most of it was sheets of metal. But, we also got a racing slick tire, couch cushion, countless cans/bottles, and an old metal bedpan. Representing NANFA


Nice job Josh. I love it when NANFA gets out in the field and acts as a service organization. Great to see you sporting our 'colors' and glad to hear about your streamside, display, education tank (even if we didnt get to see any pictures... except of the trash). Keep up the good work!
Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin

#5 Guest_farmertodd_*

Guest_farmertodd_*
  • Guests

Posted 07 August 2011 - 09:43 PM

Awesome stuff, Josh. Looks like you paddled between Vaughn and Greenville. That is an amazing stretch of river, for sure!

Todd

#6 Guest_jblaylock_*

Guest_jblaylock_*
  • Guests

Posted 08 August 2011 - 07:02 AM

Awesome stuff, Josh. Looks like you paddled between Vaughn and Greenville. That is an amazing stretch of river, for sure!

Todd


That's exactly where we paddled. The water level was super low, as you can tell in some of the photos. I was really hoping to net some big male Orangfins and possibly a Gilt, but they must have moved to deeper water as I only found small guys. I still had a good setup and people really seemed to enjoy it. I'd like to take it a step further for the Poor Fork clean-up and maybe have a posterboard setup with fish photos/info on it. Especially since there are some T&E species and other rare species in that area.

#7 Guest_ashtonmj_*

Guest_ashtonmj_*
  • Guests

Posted 08 August 2011 - 08:56 AM

Awesome stuff, Josh. Looks like you paddled between Vaughn and Greenville. That is an amazing stretch of river, for sure!

Todd


I was about to say the same thing. That put in and bridge looked awfully familiar.

#8 Guest_Casper_*

Guest_Casper_*
  • Guests

Posted 08 August 2011 - 09:02 AM

I think you earned yourself an additional Virginia decal.
:)
Here in Chattanooga we have a similiar annual weekend event, "The Tennessee River Cleanup". Volunteers gather at different sites and pull out and pile up the trash... and i have to note that our leaders feel like we are getting less trash each year, thus it seems as if we are making headway.
I set up a couple aqauriums and have a little show and tell during our lunch break and afterwards. Folks like to see what kind of life is benefiting from a clean urban stream.

Good Job Josh!

#9 Guest_jblaylock_*

Guest_jblaylock_*
  • Guests

Posted 08 August 2011 - 09:26 AM

I think I also will be buying a new NANFA shirt, as I pretty much demoted the one I have to a collecting/work shirt. It got tons of stains that won't come out.

#10 Guest_fundulus_*

Guest_fundulus_*
  • Guests

Posted 08 August 2011 - 10:53 AM

That makes it more authentic, I think we've slowly been building a photo archive of high-mileage NANFA shirts.

#11 Guest_ashtonmj_*

Guest_ashtonmj_*
  • Guests

Posted 08 August 2011 - 11:03 AM

Well then, let me dig out the pictures of the '02 convention shirt I have that is still going strong...

#12 Guest_jblaylock_*

Guest_jblaylock_*
  • Guests

Posted 08 August 2011 - 12:47 PM

That makes it more authentic, I think we've slowly been building a photo archive of high-mileage NANFA shirts.


I'd like to have one to wear outside of creeks/rivers that's not nasty looking. So now, I'll have 2!

#13 Guest_Casper_*

Guest_Casper_*
  • Guests

Posted 08 August 2011 - 12:47 PM

Well you do need a shirt for your sweetheart to round out the pair. Still im going to treat you special with a bonus.
:)
My NANFA logo shirt gets streaked every snorkel trip with the stuff Stonerollers shave off... but i have found the product "Shout" makes em clean and nice once again.
Water is so low here that i have to slither over every algae covered smooth stone.

Ashton... your not wearing your shirt enough! About 1 year is all i get.

I still think we should do a medeling show each convention. Whoever has the worse shirt gets a new one. Barbwire snags, grunge, bite marks, blood and venom stains all make for a higher score.

#14 Guest_farmertodd_*

Guest_farmertodd_*
  • Guests

Posted 08 August 2011 - 05:06 PM

So what you are saying is that I should have held on to the Ohio shirt that first got had a beautiful tie-dye pattern down the ventral side from algified seines getting held up across my belly - with a fine alternative pattern of coffee spille down; which then suffered a dubious end among a bramble of multiflora rose in an effort to show people the environmental difference between river and hornyhead chubs?

I guess I already got my prize tho - those kids will never forget me trying to rip myself out of that rose! ;)

Todd

#15 Guest_Casper_*

Guest_Casper_*
  • Guests

Posted 08 August 2011 - 05:16 PM

We have a Winner!

#16 Guest_jblaylock_*

Guest_jblaylock_*
  • Guests

Posted 09 August 2011 - 08:42 PM

Nice job Josh. I love it when NANFA gets out in the field and acts as a service organization. Great to see you sporting our 'colors' and glad to hear about your streamside, display, education tank (even if we didnt get to see any pictures... except of the trash). Keep up the good work!


Thanks to the powers of Facebook...photos of the tank setup. The water cleared up later, after these photos.

Posted Image

Posted Image

Posted Image

I have plans to ensure the tank is clearer at the next cleanup.

#17 Guest_farmertodd_*

Guest_farmertodd_*
  • Guests

Posted 09 August 2011 - 10:20 PM

Vahry nice-ah! :)

I actually cart my water in Josh. I'll dechlor it from the tap that morning so it's as cold as possible during the warm month. In the cooler months, I'll do it the night before and set it outside.

I usually use a 10 gal, so that it's just two 5 gal buckets... But if I know I'm getting a big crowd, I'll do 20 in a 30 gallon long tank. It's a ton extra work, knowing your site before hand will help you a lot to know how and where is best to set up.

I also rinse my sand and gravel out after each program with the garden hose and then keep it wet throughout so it's biologically active and won't get a bunch of floaties.

In some places you can get away with the source water, but not in the places I usually work :)

Also, let me know if you'd like to customize the Travellin' Fish Show for the Green (or perhaps work up something you've produced, if that's your preference). I'd be glad to work on that later this fall and maybe we can write a small one-time grant to NANFA to get it laminated.

Todd




0 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 0 guests, 0 anonymous users