Morgantown Dominion Post
23 July 2006:
by Natalie Neysa Alund
For more information about volunteering for the Mon River Revival, call Tim Terman at 276-8306.
Michael Kincaid jumped off the front of a pontoon boat onto a bank of the Monongahela River, grabbed a large round piece of styrofoam and hocked it back onto the boat.
"Let me get this, too," the 11-year-old said, as he bent down and picked up a tire.
Tim Terman, the boat's captain, patiently waited until Kincaid climbed back aboard with the tire, which he set on the end of the boat next to a full white trash bag.
"Great, let's go see what else we can find," Terman said as he began to steer his 28-foot pontoon boat upstream toward the Morgantown Lock and Dam.
Terman and a group of about 11 volunteers met early Saturday morning and embarked on a river clean-up effort he recently created and dubbed the Mon River Revival.
The program, he said, is an opportunity to keep the riverbanks clean.
Terman and his Saturday morning crew spent just under four hours gathering piles of trash from the Mon River and its banks.
The effort, which began in the spring, is led by Terman and sponsored by the Upper Mon River Association, Vision 2020, Compuhigh and the City of Morgantown.
So far, Terman has led a different volunteer crew out each of four times and gathered about 35 bags of trash and a slew of tires.
"And there is more out there," Terman said Saturday. "We've had high water lately so we haven't been going out. But now that it's calming down, we'll be doing this through the fall."
The crew removed items ranging from socks and glass to tires and rims Saturday morning.
Terman said he created the program to pick up trash - most of which accumulates by the Morgantown Lock and Dam, Hildebrand Lock and Dam, and along the Mon River's banks.
"A lot of people, including visitors, on
the rail-trail see the garbage along the riverbanks," Terman
said. "It's an eyesore and I wanted to do something about
it."
So every Saturday, weather permitting, Terman and a new volunteer
crew travel up and down the river, searching for litter.
When they spot trash, they stop, pick it up and bag it.
At the end of their mission, they drop it into trash bins ashore.
They even take a break for a lunch, supplied by the program's sponsors.
"The sponsors also pay for the gas," Terman said.
The first stop Saturday morning was a flat riverbank near where Deckers Creek spills into the Mon River.
The entire crew went ashore, some with rubber gloves and long silver tongs, and gathered about seven large bags filled with trash.
Ramona Groat loads tires on the boat
"There was a lot of garbage there," said 14-year-old crew member Ramona Groat as she climbed back into the boat.
Terman glanced at Groat and smiled.
"It only took us a short while to clean it and look how much better it looks," Terman said as the boat once again embarked upstream.
At another stop, Genna Jones, 14, and her sister Jolie Jones, 11, both of Atlanta, packed pieces of broken glass and placed them in a bag.
Genna's mother, Roberta Jones, said she and her daughters are in town visiting relatives for a few weeks.
They decided to help out after they saw an advertisement for the program.
"Genna's high school requires 75 hours of community service, so this is a great opportunity for her," said Roberta Jones, a Morgantown native.
"We also like the wilderness - after all it is, Wild, Wonderful, West Virginia, so we thought this was a way to give back to what we enjoy."
The trip isn't just an environmental effort, it's a learning experience too.
"Each time we have an expert of some sort on trees, the water, animals or fish," Terman said.
Sue Olcott, an expert on dragonflies with the state Division of Natural Resources and president of the Mountaineer Chapter of Audubon Society, joined the crew Saturday on Terman's boat and spoke about insects and birds.
While some crew members spent time on riverbanks cleaning up trash, Olcott captured insects to bring back to the boat to show to the crew.
Terman said he plans to continue the effort every Saturday through the fall.
"Anyone interested can just give me a call," he said.
"It's a great effort and a learning experience."