Friends of the Spanish River volunteers participating in a nationally
sponsored shoreline cleanup, September 2003.

Spanish River Shoreline Cleanup Planned
Friends Access National Program
by Cindy Laundry, Staff Writer
Mid-North Monitor

A national program will be hitting the shores of the lower Spanish River as the Friends organize a cleanup with the backing of the TD Shoreline Cleanup Foundation.
Bill McKenna said as a member of the World Wildlife Fund he gets their monthly newsletters e-mailed to him. “August 15, pop there it is on my e-mail and I'm reading through it and there's an incredible shoreline cleanup program coordinated in Canada by an organization called the TD Shoreline Cleanup Foundation so I'm thinking ‘this has got to be the TD bank’ and sure enough it is. It's coast to coast to coast, it's everywhere you look,” he said.

The cleanup is scheduled to run from Sept. 13-21 and volunteers are heading out Sept. 13 from the boat launch in Massey.

Referring to a feature on CBC radio last week, McKenna said volunteers with the Sudbury region were profiled. “They're going to do Lake Ramsey, Lake Onaping; the Friends of Junction Creek are going to be in on this and now the Friends of the Spanish River are a part of it.”

Friends of the Spanish River chairperson, Marcel Golec said the cleanup stretches from below the Webbwood Falls dam to Brennan Harbour. He said volunteers can contact either himself or McKenna.

McKenna said there was little time to plan for the cleanup. “We had to go for this.” He pointed out that this cleanup is not a localized effort; rather the project encompasses all of North America. “This is going to be a really super cleanup of the lower Spanish River and it's the perfect time to do it because the water levels are low, it's still not that cold. We can cleanup the garbage and feel good about our River.”

“What is different about this program is that whatever we pick up we are supposed to ‘tick off’ what it is,” McKenna said referring to a form that volunteers are required to fill out. “At the end we tally it up and send it off to (headquarters) and they will identify what kind of garbage or litter is happening in our area and what kind of public education program should be put in place in order to minimize it.”

McKenna said the program is only three years old and has exploded, “it's a really big step forward.” He pointed out that the River is cleaned every year, “we have to. So we decided let's do it anyway and be proactive about it and educate the public.” In the past, items such as old cars, bicycles, broken glass, broken appliances were pulled from the Spanish River. Three years ago, Friends of the Spanish River pulled out a computer monitor.

McKenna said this is a good idea. “It’s not the same people throwing their garbage all over and it never gets any better. This is actually proactive because it will target areas that need public education. This would hopefully relate to a reduction in pollution of the River in the future.”

“If that River wasn't there, we wouldn't be here so we have to give it some respect,” McKenna added. “We’ve worked hard to make it healthy so let’s keep it healthy.”