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First of three photos showing Housatonic River with shopping carts, bicycles, and other trash.

Other River Cleanups


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Third of three photos showing Housatonic River with shopping carts, bicycles, and other trash.

River Before Cleanup (2005)

River After Cleanup (2005)

BEAT has been organizing river cleanups since 2002. Contact us if you would like to be part of our next clean-up.

We put our canoes and kayaks in at the Kellogg Road launch site in Sheffield and enjoyed a morning out on the river! This was the first of three river clean-ups planned as part of National River Cleanup Week, and was beautifully organized by Pat Elsbach and Kathy Orlando of the Sheffield Land Trust in cooperation with the Housatonic Valley Association (HVA). Also participating in the cleanup were Bruce and Jane Winn from BEAT and Jenny Hersch from the proposed Housatonic River Museum and Dennis Regan from HVA. (Photos by Jane Winn, BEAT – click on image for a larger picture)

Canoeing the Housatonic in Sheffield
Jenny starting down the river
Jenny returning from cleaning out the oxbow
Put in our old 17′ aluminum canoe
at the Kellogg Street launch site and started down the river. (Click on a picture for a larger image.)
Jenny Hersch, the energy behind the proposed Housatonic River Museum, had a very light canoe, so she made a side trip to clean an oxbow. Jenny retrieved from the oxbow, among other trash, the only tire that we found on this cleanup.
At the end of the cleanup
Kathy Orlando of the Sheffield Land Trust
the Housatonic River
At the end of the trip, we pulled out by the covered bridge. A few hardy souls continued on downstream. Kathy standing next to the only tire and some other trash, with Bruce Winn from BEAT in the background. And we left behind a beautiful stretch of river with no trash.
Dennis with a message in a bottle
The message in a bottle
The message SOS
Dennis Regan from the Housatonic Valley Association with Pat Elsbach from the Sheffield Land Trust holding a couple of the trash bags provided by American Rivers. Dennis found a message in a bottle… …which read “SOS” (and an email address – sorry you won’t be able to read it here.)
Also check out the cleanups in Pittsfield and Great Barrington.

THANK YOU EVERYBODY!

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