Successful River Cleanup
By Russ Miller
This marks the eleventh year for the Red River Cleanup.
Each year the river is in better condition than the year before,
until now the condition of the river, while still not pristine, is one of
tremendous beauty.
Unfortunately, a few selfish individuals are still willing to dump
tires and household garbage into the river in order to save a few dollars.
Add to this the unintended items such as children’s big wheel
tricycles and basketballs along with coolers and shoes which wash into the
river during heavy rains and you will understand the need for these annual
clean-ups.
As the river has become cleaner and the reputation of the
hospitality of our community has spread, we have attracted more visitors
to our county. This
stimulates our economy and gives others a chance to benefit from the
restorative virtues of nature. The
credit for this success belongs not only to those that participate in
these cleanups but to all those individuals that have worked to make this
a cleaner county. Together we
have not only cleaned up Red River but we have eliminated open dumps,
cleaned up our community and developed a higher environmental awareness in
the progress.
This success also belongs to the agencies that have helped fund
this work. These agencies
include the Kentucky River Authority, PRIDE, the Cabinet for Natural
Resources and Environmental Protection and the Wolfe County Fiscal Court,
and the Appalachian Heritage Alliance for administrating the grants.
It is said that to those whom much is given, much is expected. We have been given this beautiful place to live and I think
by our actions we have proven worthy of it.
Russ Miller and Romeo
Thanks to Russ Miller, and other dedicated volunteers, the
nationally designated "Wild and Scenic" Red River flows cleaner
and clearer every year. In the last eleven years, over 2,000 tires
and countless bags of trash have been removed.
In the first five years of this project there was one
River Clean-Up a year. In the second five year period, there were two
Clean-Ups a year. This year, there were three.
Volunteers include local and community people, The Friends
of the Red River, Bluegrass Wildwater Association, The Sierra Club, and
college students.
Inflating the "rubber duckies"
A grant this year from the Kentucky River Authority
allowed the purchase of four inflatable rafts. This greatly facilitated
the clean-up process. Before this, Mr. Miller would spend countless hours
before each clean-up digging up sand buried tires and stacking them on the
river bank. The volunteers, as they paddled by in their canoes and kayaks,
would stuff the tires with empty milk jugs. This increased the buoyancy
and allowed the tires to float. The tires were then herded like cattle
down the river to where other volunteers extracted them. This was a very
slow, frustrating, and difficult process.
A "duckie" full of tires
Some tires are bigger than
others. The rafts are a huge help- but it's
still not easy.
 
But it's worth the effort.
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Photos by Tenny Ostrem