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What if there was a way to reduce stormwater runoff as well as provide access to healthy food in low income urban areas? What if this practice was being done in cities across the Nation?

Farms are not just for rural areas; the practice of urban agriculture is a growing trend in inner-city neighborhoods across the country to address the issues of food deserts and stormwater runoff. The impetus behind this trend is to provide healthy food to city residents as well as to reduce stormwater runoff. Using urban agriculture as a green stormwater infrastructure practice can reduce the amount of nutrients that flow into waterways and destroy their ecological health and the community benefits they provide.

Why We Need Stormwater Practices

Rain fall in urban areas picks up pollutants such as heavy metals, oil, and grease as it flows across impervious surfaces such as streets, parking lots, and roofs. Polluted runoff is a major source of water pollution in watersheds across the United States. Increased development and urbanization combined with expensive water infrastructure updates have communities across the country starting to incorporate innovative approaches to manage stormwater runoff, such as urban agriculture, which in turn will protect clean water and public health.

Urban Agriculture as a Green Infrastructure Practice

Green infrastructure is a water management system or practice that uses natural processes to infiltrate stormwater runoff on the site where the runoff is generated. Urban agriculture is a green infrastructure tool because it creates a pervious surface where an impervious surface once was and plants have a propensity to soak up rainwater.

Many urban areas have vacant and unused lots that serve no purpose to the city or surrounding neighborhood, and are typically made up of poor quality soils that are compacted due to years of development and are not conducive to water infiltration. Creating an urban farm in these lots reduces the amount of stormwater runoff due to the looser soil and the addition of plants.

Urban agriculture provides more benefits than green infrastructure does alone. Farms improve the local economy by creating jobs and increasing property values, improve nutritional health of underserved communities by giving local access to healthy food options, and connect residents to their environment by providing greenspace to enjoy. For these reasons, urban areas across the country should integrate agriculture into their cityscape.

Check out these links to learn more about urban agriculture:

Download the report

As a national leader on dam removal, American Rivers strives to provide resources to the public to help inspire, educate, and ultimately increase the comfort level of groups working on-the-ground that would like to get involved in opening up rivers across the country. Did you know that we have an entire online resource center packed with great information about dam removal? You should check it out!

If you prefer to watch-and-learn, we have captured an informative series of presentations about the process of taking out dams in a video series. These videos allow you to virtually attend one of our training sessions in the comfort of your own home or office. The best part is that you can go back and reference them in whole, or in part, whenever you are unsure about how to take the next step in a dam removal project.

In an effort to make our dam removal trainings even more accessible remotely, today we are sharing our how-to manual — Removing Small Dams: A Basic Guide for Project Managers Removing Small Dams: A Basic Guide for Project Managers. This guide contains useful information on many dam removal related topics, such as:

Recruiting a Good Project Manager
Dam Removal Check List
Conducting Initial Reconnaissance
Funding Your Dam Removal Project
Developing a Preliminary Design Plan
Finalizing Your Engineering Design
Helping Your Community Learn About Your Project
Completing Your Project
Monitoring Your Project

American Rivers has been refining the content of this manual for a number of years, and many practitioners have found it to be a very useful starting point for getting acquainted with the process of removing a dam. At first, this process might seem a bit daunting. However, you do not have to be an engineer, or hydrologist, or an expert in river habitat in order to remove a dam. You only need to recognize your strengths and be willing to reach out to, and partner with, others who are experts in these various fields. No one can remove a dam on their own. Recruiting a great team of experienced professionals (as with many things in this world) is the first step towards achieving a successful dam removal project and restoring a healthy river!

Let me cut to the chase. The Escalade tram and massive construction project that were proposed in the Grand Canyon have been dealt a serious blow.

Incoming Navajo President Russell Begaye and Navajo Vice President Jonathan Nez have made strong public statements opposing the misguided Escalade project in the heart of the canyon. This is big news. Your voice, along with more than 200,000 others, helped raise awareness about this issue.

And with the support of our partners, we have seriously set back this terrible project. Thank you for helping us raise awareness about the need to protect the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon – America’s Most Endangered River of 2015 – and for making this significant progress possible.

But other development continues to threaten beauty of the Grand Canyon.

Outside the National Park, developers proposed a dramatic expansion of the town of Tusayan on the canyon’s South Rim. This expansion could add thousands of new homes and retail stores. But the question is: how will they secure water to support the expansion?

If the Tusayan developers tap the groundwater that feeds the canyon’s seeps, springs, and waterfalls, it would threaten rare ecological treasures in the heart of the desert. No expansion of the town should be approved without an enforceable, sustainable plan to safeguard the groundwater resources that directly impact the Grand Canyon.

Right now, we are working with the Forest Service to ensure there is a plan to protect the groundwater resources that are directly connected to Grand Canyon National Park. We will continue to keep you updated about threats to the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon, and ways you can speak up to protect this special place.

But for today, I want to thank you for your ongoing support. This victory couldn’t have happened without people like you.

Alexander Okonta with his sign after the installation | Karen Okonta & Clay Symington

An important aspect of implementing green infrastructure in a community is education. The community needs to understand what it is, why it’s important, and what they can do themselves on a small residential scale to contribute to making green infrastructure a priority in their community.

American Rivers has been involved in the Toledo-Lucas County Rain Garden Initiative for many years. This organization works with residents, schools, churches, and community centers to educate them on the benefits of rain gardens, and in addition lend expertise to help design and install rain gardens. Recently, we identified rain gardens throughout Toledo and Lucas County that did not have any signage. Having educational signage is a key way to educate passer-byers and raise awareness in the community. Many of the rain gardens already installed that did not have signs were located at schools around town. The cost for permanent signs can usually be written in to grant funded projects, but most of these are not grant funded projects.

One solution to this was discovered by building a partnership with a local High School Senior, Alexander Okonta. He was able to create and install an educational rain garden sign at one of the school rain gardens for his Eagle Scout Service Project. Okonta was able to work with the school, the City of Toledo and the Rain Garden Initiative to come up with the design of the sign and locate a school rain garden that was in need of valuable signage. The Eagle Scout Service Project is supposed to allow the Scout to demonstrate his leadership in service of others. This partnership was beneficial to Okonta, and more importantly a huge benefit for the school and the greater community by having a platform to educate them about the environmental, social, and economic benefits from rain gardens and other green infrastructure practices.

This is a guest post by Neil Wagner, a relief pitcher for the Tampa Bay Rays.

The English novelist J.B. Priestly said of the Grand Canyon that “there is of course, no sense at all in trying to describe the Grand Canyon. Those who have not seen it will not believe any possible description. Those who have seen it know that it cannot be described.”

Nevertheless, any discussion of why the canyon should be preserved must necessarily begin with a description of why it is important to begin with. One of the most famously beautiful places in the world and a place that people go to expecting to be awed, it still manages to stun even the most cynical visitor at first sight. Even though the canyon is a mile deep and ten miles wide, it is not until you come nearly to the precipice that you can actually see into the canyon. But when you do step up to the canyon’s edge, as I first did during an October sunset at Bright Angel point, you see one of the most spectacular sights there is to be seen anywhere, with only the tiny footpath that is the Bright Angel Trail suggesting that mankind has ever penetrated its depths.

It is important for us — people in general, but Americans in particular — to have places like this. Places where we are not masters of our environment, but are visitors to places where a portion of our natural patrimony has been preserved in its original, unspoiled state. My Grand Canyon hiking and backpacking trips are some of the most resonant experiences of my life specifically because of the solitude, isolation and true remoteness that exist there and few other places in modern life.

Seeing deer in the park across the street from my house is amusing, but when my wife and I rounded a bend of the Bright Angel trail and encountered a buck standing directly in front of us, it spoke to me deeply. The way we all intently studied one another for a few moments then simply passed each other like fellow hikers on the narrow path was truly magical. It is also the type of moment that would probably cease to be possible if the proposed Escalade development in and around the Grand Canyon is allowed to move forward.

I am heartened by recent statements from the Navajo Nation that dim the prospects of the misguided Escalade development.

The proposal would, among other things, run a gondola from the rim of the canyon to the Colorado River. I cherish the memory of walking along the Colorado and touching the exposed Vishnu schist basement rocks (at 1.7 billion years old, they pre-date multicellular life by 700 million years) and would wish for this same experience for everyone. However, I cannot help but worry that those riding the proposed tram to the bottom would be experiencing a grand and beautiful canyon, but would miss the essence of the Grand Canyon.

Those in favor of the proposal will likely crow about minimizing the project’s footprint and many well-meaning citizens will probably accept those claims, hope for the best and maybe plan a visit. But to be clear, this is only superficially like the construction of Going-to-the-Sun highway in Glacier or the blasting of elevator shafts into Carlsbad Caverns. Those projects did not alter the fundamental structure of the landscape and yet they served to grant the public greater access to their spectacular natural showplaces. The gondola and associated development would mar a spectacular landscape in the name of commercial interests.

I would reiterate words of my favorite president Theodore Roosevelt, who in 1903 said that “In the Grand Canyon, Arizona has a natural wonder which, so far as I know, is in kind absolutely unparalleled throughout the rest of the world. I want to ask you to do one thing in connection with it in your own interest and in the interest of the country to keep this great wonder of nature as it now is…Leave it as it is. You cannot improve on it. The ages have been at work on it, and man can only mar it. What you can do is to keep it for your children, your children’s children, and for all who come after you, as one of the great sights which every American, if he can travel at all, should see.”

I am grateful to American Rivers for highlighting the need to protect the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon through its America’s Most Endangered Rivers campaign.

We must all remain vigilant about safeguarding the Grand Canyon and our nation’s other wild treasures.

Neil Wagner is an avid hiker and outdoor enthusiast. He is a pitcher for the Tampa Bay Rays and is currently rehabbing from August 2014 Tommy John surgery.

American Rivers held a successful Waccamaw River Cleanup May 30 at East Bay Park and Landing in Georgetown, South Carolina. Thirty people volunteered to clean up the Waccamaw River on land and on the water in kayaks provided by Blackriver Outdoors Center. A diverse array of cleanup participants, ranging in age from 14 to almost 70, helped collect everyday trash such as soda bottles as well as odd items including a yoga mat from our precious waters. Paddle veterans joined first-time kayakers excited to get a lesson and then try out their new skills while helping to clean up our river and harbor.

Some of those new paddlers were from a group of ten students from Duke University who are living and interning in Georgetown County this summer. Our group also included three teenage girls who had just moved to the area from New York. I was also celebrating a first: This was the first cleanup I organized, and I was proud to see everyone launch, outfitted with life jackets and paddles — 22 colorful kayaks and one speed boat dotting the water with people laughing, splashing, enjoying our river and bay, and eager to clean up the water at the same time.
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The speed boat and its pilot, Ron Hartman, were key to our tremendous success. Hartman cruised between the kayakers in regular circuits collecting bulk items and full bags of trash and returning them to shore. This makeshift assembly line let our energetic group collect more than 300 pounds of trash from the end point of the Waccamaw River Blue Trail. Our most unusual piece of trash: a battered mini fridge that volunteer Jane Ochsenbein found and towed victoriously behind her kayak before loading it on Hartman’s boat.

I was sick the whole week before the event, and I still wasn’t feeling great Friday evening. But Saturday morning, I was at East Bay Park well before 9 am to hang up my American Rivers banner and set out our trash bags, gloves, pickers, and snacks. I was excited to greet all the volunteers who made time on a Saturday morning to join me. I was eager to share a little of our precious blackwater river and what I love about it – the jewel colored sunsets, a unique ecosystem that contains carnivorous plants that are found few places in the world, and the amazing, generous people that I’ve met and paddled with, who have nothing in common except their love of this river and its bay.

The event was a success by all the metrics we use to measure river cleanups, as well as one personal metric. At the end of the event, the Duke students thanked me and asked if there would be other opportunities to volunteer to help protect or restore the river. I can’t wait to see them on the river soon!

The New York Times recently ran a story (Drought is Bearing Fruit for Washington Wineries) quoting Michael Garrity of American Rivers. Michael talked about how a plan for the Yakima River is a model for conservation.

I sat down with Michael and asked him some questions about this important river and groundbreaking project.

Why is the Yakima a special river?

The Yakima River represents and supports so many different aspects of the Pacific Northwest’s high quality of life. The river supports salmon runs that sustain tribes and provides Washington’s only blue ribbon trout fishing opportunities for residents and visitors. The river’s water irrigates abundant crops including apples, peaches, cherries, and an increasing quantity of wine grapes as mentioned in the New York Times story. The Yakima is also essential to the craft beer industry and to bigger breweries, because it provides about 75% of the nation’s – and one-third of the world’s – hops. And of course the Yakima watershed is a popular destination for families looking for hiking, boating, skiing, and other outdoor activities.

What is significant about the agreement?

The Yakima Basin plan, hammered out by a diverse coalition of conservationists, farmers, tribes and state and federal governments, is a major step toward ending decades of bitter feuding over water in the Yakima Basin, ending 30-plus years of “fish vs. farms” debates.

The plan will restore several runs of salmon and steelhead, including what could easily become the largest sockeye salmon run in the lower 48 states and improve water security for farms and communities, all while protecting nearly 200,000 acres of public lands and about 200 miles of pristine streams prized for recreation and wildlife habitat. The plan has already protected 50,000 acres in the Teanaway River Valley. This beautiful valley was threatened with resort development before it became, thanks to the Yakima Plan, the state’s first Community Forest. Now it’s safe from development and managed primarily for fisheries health, natural water supply benefits, and recreation.

How can the success on the Yakima translate to other river basins dealing with drought and water conflicts?

On the Yakima River, the status quo wasn’t working for anybody. Streams were running dry and were blocked by outdated irrigations dams, farmers didn’t have enough water for their crops, and fish populations were plummeting. More lawsuits weren’t the answer. So we – a conservation coalition, the Yakama Nation, farmers, counties, and basically all levels of government from federal to local — all came together to figure out a new path forward. With climate change and a reduced winter snowpack presenting new challenges and making water supplies more scarce both in- and out-of-stream, there’s a lot at stake for everyone.

At the heart of the Yakima plan is a recognition of the value of healthy, flowing rivers. And, a recognition that we need balance. If we manage our water supplies wisely, we can have healthy farms, thriving fish and wildlife, and a healthy environment and economy.

What’s next?

Building on some major successes at the state level, including the protection of the Teanaway River watershed, we hope to soon see federal legislation introduced that authorizes the federal government’s share of funding for the first phase of the plan. At the same time, the full coalition behind the plan is actively pursuing Wild and Scenic designation for the upper Cle Elum River system, which includes important headwaters of the Yakima River and the spawning grounds for the salmon that will have permanent fish passage above Cle Elum Dam.

We will share the lessons of the Yakima with leaders in other river basins across the west. When we build trust and work together, we can achieve solutions that work for communities, farms, and rivers.

With a cool breeze blowing off the river, Jarrad looked up at the sunbaked limestone walls of the Auburn Quarry, a popular rock climbing area in the Auburn State Recreation Area along the Middle Fork of the American River, visualizing the moves required to get to the top of the 40 foot wall.

Twenty miles away on the South Fork of the American, Julie was getting ready to take her inflatable kayak down Trouble Maker, a class III rapid and one of the most rafted sections of river in California. Rock climbing and whitewater rafting are just two of the many popular outdoor activities for the millions of Americans who celebrated this Memorial Day Weekend.

Memorial Day Weekend is the unofficial start of summer and with it, a surge of people dust off their camping, fishing, and other outdoor gear and head outside. The influx of cash from people camping and buying supplies for s’mores, rafting, and fishing, not to mention filling up their cars at local gas stations to get out of town, is extremely important for rural towns across the US.

Camping Gore Range in Colorado

In 2013, 142.6 million Americans participated in an outdoor activity, many of which were on or enhanced by rivers.

Outdoor recreation is an important and often overlooked part of the US economy which contributes about $650 billion annually in direct spending resulting in over 6 million outdoor recreation jobs .

The Colorado River, American River’s Most Endangered River of 2015, alone accounts for $26 billion in economic outputs from river based recreation. Across the US, small rural towns that traditionally survived on boom and bust extraction industries now thrive with more sustainable recreation based industries like whitewater rafting.

As regional outdoor recreation economies are built up there is an increased motivation to protect the landscape that provides these opportunities. Local communities across the US have become increasingly aware of the economic value of healthy rivers and river-based recreation, and they are fighting to protect flows and water quality. American Rivers supports these efforts through its Blue Trails program by helping to improve water quality, river access, and recreational opportunities.

Trouble Maker Rapid on the South Fork American River

So go out! Enjoy the cool water during a river float, the rush of a trout’s tug on a line, or diversity of wildlife in a lush riparian area. And when you do go out, support the small towns that steward the rivers and wild places you enjoy.

Oh and here is a silly joke to share with your family, friends, or whoever you encounter on your journey. Why are rivers so rich? Because they have two banks! Ok and one more. What do fish wash their fins in? River Basins! Now go outside and enjoy!

Today, you delivered a victory for rivers. Thanks to supporters like you – including the one million Americans who submitted public comments – the Obama Administration finalized the Clean Water Protection Rule – a vital step toward safeguarding the nation’s clean drinking water. Few things are more fundamental to our health than clean water. No one should have to worry about pollution when they turn on the tap. This administration’s leadership in protecting our streams will benefit millions of Americans and our children and grandchildren.

The final Clean Water Protection Rule closes the loopholes that have allowed the drinking water sources of one in three Americans to be at risk for pollution. At a time when severe drought affects the supply of clean water for many communities, it is critically important that we do all we can to preserve and protect the water we have. Clean water is vital to life itself.

The Clean Water Protection Rule, written by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, clarifies which waters are, and which waters are not, protected by the Clean Water Act. The final rule has been needed since 2001, when the Supreme Court issued its ruling in SWANCC v. US Army Corps of Engineers. That decision cast a cloud over which waters are subject to federal protection under the Clean Water Act. A subsequent ruling by the Supreme Court in Rapanos v. United States further confounded the scope of the Clean Water Act. This confusion placed millions of miles of streams, particularly headwater streams, and millions of acres of wetlands in jeopardy. Without federal protection under the Clean Water Act, polluters are able to dump toxic waste into streams and wetlands, and developers are able to dredge and fill these critical areas that are essential for drinking water supplies, fish and wildlife habitat, and flood protection.

The final rule is the result of extensive consultation with the public, local communities, state agencies, federal agencies, businesses, farmers, fishermen, tribes, and conservation groups, including American Rivers. The final Clean Water Protection Rule simultaneously addresses the concerns of stakeholders while also providing important protections for streams and wetlands across the United States.

As the nation’s leading advocate for protecting and restoring rivers, American Rivers applauds the Obama Administration for standing up for healthy rivers and clean drinking water. Protecting our clean water is an investment that will benefit the health of our families today, and will pay off for generations to come.

Guest post from Ben Bulis, President of the American Fly Fishing Trade Association and resident of Bozeman, Montana.

Now that summer is almost upon us, millions of Americans will take to our nation’s waterways for boating, swimming, and fishing. We can enjoy these waterways thanks in large part to the protections provided to them by the Clean Water Act. The EPA and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are set to release their final rule clarifying which waters are protected under the Clean Water Act. This rule is expected to bring small streams and wetlands back into the jurisdiction of the Act. Congress is trying to stop the rulemaking process, but people like Ben Bulis are letting them know that the final rule is necessary.

On May 19, 2015 the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship held a hearing entitled, “An Examination of Proposed Environmental Regulation’s Impacts on America’s Small Business.” During this hearing, Ben Bulis, President of the American Fly Fishing Trade Association (AFFTA), presented the following testimony on the importance of the Clean Water Rule to the fly fishing industry:

AFFTA represents the business of fly fishing which includes manufacturers, retailers, outfitters and guides across the nation, who all share the same bottom line: furthering the sport and industry of fly fishing. This cannot be accomplished without clean water and vibrant fisheries habitat. The formula that drives AFFTA is very simple: Access to healthy habitat creates recreational opportunity that drives economic activity and jobs.

Our industry provides the waders, rods, guides and boats that 47 million sportsmen and women utilize every time they step foot in their favorite piece of water. Their quality of experience, and thus our return sales to enhance those days, is dependent on access to clean water.

I am here to express our support for the Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency’s efforts to restore protections for our nation’s headwater streams and wetlands under the Clean Water Act. Simply put, the draft clean water rule is well crafted and appropriate, it should be allowed to move through the federal rulemaking process with support of Congress.

Here’s why.

The small waters to which this important draft rule applies are the lifeblood for many of our country’s prized fisheries. The health of these headwaters sets the tone and benefits for all waters downstream, supporting and creating even the backbone of our nation’s marine resources. They flow into rivers, streams and lakes that provide the foundation of our industry, thus eventually concluding the voyage in our oceans–our industry’s viability depends on intact watersheds, cold, clean rivers and streams and healthy, fishable habitat.

Given that fishing in America supports approximately 828,000 jobs, results in nearly $50 billion annually in retail sales and has an economic impact of about $115 billion every year (Sportfishing in America an Economic Force for Conservation, American Sportfishing Association, 2013), it stands to reason that the health of our nation’s waters is vital to the continued success of our industry, and to the health of America’s economy. We urge you to allow the rulemaking process to continue unimpeded, carefully review the final rule when it comes out, and then determine what, if any, legislative action is warranted. We owe it to the more than one million Americans who took the time to comment on the proposal to allow the process to reach a conclusion. More than 80% of those who commented on the proposal were in favor of it. Such strong support for clean water and healthy watersheds is what our members experience every day as we interact with our customers across the Nation.

If we fail to protect our headwater streams and wetlands, we may destroy the $200 billion annual economy of the hunting and fishing industry, as well as put 1.5 million people out of work.

Of those 1.5 million jobs…many are located in rural areas with limited economic opportunities and few other employment options. Some of the best trout water in the lower 48 is located here in Montana, where our entire state population just recently broached a million residents. Because of access and quality of those trout waters…world-wide fly fishing companies such as Simms, RL Winston, Montana Fly Company and Bozeman Reel Company have decided to set up shop in our relatively rural location…and employ hundreds of people in the process. If those jobs are compromised due to a lack of clean water, what options do those employees have in our rural economies across the nation?

AFFTA members from the White Mountains of New Hampshire, the Coast of Louisiana, the Olympic Peninsula in Washington, the Florida Keys, the Front Range of Colorado and the remote outfitters in Alaska are all funding their local economies by clean water and healthy fisheries.

From the flies to the rods to the rain jackets for the guides rowing clients down the river…none would be possible without clean water.

In recent years, participation in fly fishing has grown. We are seeing robust interest in our sport and it is translating to our sales, to the numbers of employees we hire right here in America, and to the health of brick-and-mortar retailers all over the country. The fly fishing industry is the epitome of small business, the sustainable domestic industry is dependent on clean fishable water.

But, in addition to being acutely interested in the health of our watersheds, we are also concerned that blocking this rulemaking process could turn back the clock on the progress our nation has made since the Clean Water Act was put into place more than 40 years ago. Today, rivers that were once polluted are home to remarkable runs of steelhead, salmon and brown trout. Streams that were once uninhabitable for native brook trout are now home to robust populations of these prized fish. What’s more, our country’s drinking water is healthier and safer.

Please consider the present state of our watersheds before interfering in a proven process that has generated more than 800,000 comments from the public in support of this rule. While we understand that politics these days can be tumultuous and rancorous, we strongly encourage you not to play politics with clean water.

I live in the San Francisco Bay Area now, but I grew up on the East Coast in New Jersey. As far as the weather goes, I remember the four seasons in New Jersey as iconic and palpable.

My move to the Bay Area 12 years ago taught me about new seasons – the wet, stormy winters and the dry, often cool, summers. I adjusted and came to love the tempestuous drama of a California winter. I remember a March almost 10 years ago when it rained nearly every day. I was stunned and thrilled (and soggy).

Those wet winter storms just don’t seem to happen anymore. What happened to the Northern California weather I adjusted to and thrilled on?

I was talking about this over FaceTime with my Mom in New Jersey. She mentioned that the drought “out there” seems bad. Yes, it is, I said. And then I had a thought: Why should Americans who don’t live in the West care?

The fact is, California grows more than a third of the nation’s vegetables and almost two-thirds of its fruits and nuts. The drought’s bearing on agricultural production will most likely cause a nation-wide ripple effect on food prices, with Americans all over the country seeing their grocery store receipts inch up in cost. Lettuce and avocados in particular are expected to shoot up in price, as well as other staples such as tomatoes, peppers and broccoli.

California is also the world’s eighth-largest economy, mostly due to its agricultural base, and there will be nation-wide financial impact due the drought, especially if the winters ahead continue to be dry.

When it comes to the drought in California, no matter where you live in the States, it turns out that “out there” is really “right here.”

On a windy Earth Day morning I arrived in Madison, Virginia to attend Plow & Hearth’s Earth Day Celebration. I had the pleasure to join a group of local, sustainable businesses who were tabling at the event. My favorite aspect of this Earth Day event was that there were so many ways for people to take sustainability home with them. People who came to the American Rivers table had arms full of local produce from the “Mini-Farmers Market” that featured area farms, handcrafted spices, and local honey. They had also had the chance to visit the tables of an area organic compost business and learn about the sustainable products offered by Reuseit.com and VivaTerra.

It goes without saying that on this Earth Day sustainability was blowing in the wind. I had fun sharing with folks about the newly released American Rivers 2015 Most Endangered Rivers list and the great work all of the river cleanup organizers and volunteers are doing across the country. This was an exciting event and only just the beginning of the Earth Day activities for many Plow & Hearth employees. At my table we were able to sign up volunteers for their very own river cleanup! On the following Friday 34 employees set out on the 4^th Annual Plow & Hearth River Clean-Up. Over the past four years this cleanup has pulled over 2 tons of trash and debris from rivers and streams. On this Friday the volunteers cleaned up 1000 pounds of trash, 5 tires, a shopping cart, and a mini couch from the Rivanna River! They even captured the fun they had at the river cleanup in a video, check it out below!

National River Cleanup was proud to partner with Plow & Hearth on Earth Day and we look forward to seeing even more trash cleaned up at next year’s cleanup!

Do you want to give back to your community and clean up your river? Organize a cleanup or volunteer with National River Cleanup today!