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Old Wells St. Walk-Bridge in foreground, Wells St. Bridge in the background. |
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Trash and flowers live side by side |
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Thank you for getting it out |
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Gene found the common freshwater jellyfish (ew) |
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Close-up of the specimen; we pulled out hundreds of condoms and tampons from the river that day |
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My beautiful kayak caught in the bushes |
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These are the type of discharge outlets you can't see when you cross the bridge in your car or bike! |
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Night Shade Family is potentially poisonous (aka belladonna, devil's cherries) |
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Duckweed (invasive) is the film on top of the water. Another indication of nutrient overload |
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Everyone enjoyed the day, even though it was drizzling in the morning! |
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Participants set sail on their own personal clean-up journey |
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Trash identified and ready to remove! |
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About 60 participants showed for our 1st Annual Canoe Clean-Up on the St. Mary's River in Ft. Wayne |
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Volunteers and people who care are the heart of any grassroots organization! |
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Example of a straight pipe discharge - the orange pipe coming from local business on the St. Mary |
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These pipes are difficult to see in the summer with plant life overgrowth |
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See the small metal one on the lower right corner of picture too! |
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St Mary's River view of companies on the river |
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Jewel Weed - the leaves can be crushed and made to treat skin irritations like poison ivy. A reported antihistamine and anti-inflammatory. |
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Examples of late blooming that have taproots that help with river water quality and asthetics! |
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These girls said they single handedly pulled out 50 condoms and a few tampons! THANK YOU SO MUCH! |
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Swamp Rose Mallow (aka Marsh Mallow or wild cotton) |
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Swamp Rose Mallow - grows in wetland, swampy, riverbank areas. (Hibiscus moscheutos) |
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THIS is a CSO (combined sewer overflow) when it rains only 1/10th of one inch they open up and spray out (keep away) |
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...and this is what comes out of a CSO, strained toilet water. |
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When people get onto the water they always tell me how truly beautiful it is and how they wished it were cleaner! |
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View of under The Wells St. Bridge |
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We chose to work on The St. Mary's because the St. Joe and St. Mary's headwaters downtown and then combines to make one river, The Maumee! |
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The side of headwaters park you usually don't get to see! |
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Everyone that worked the event was so helpful! |
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Precious cargo being launched. |
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Gene Faron brought the microscope and did a demonstration with the young people. |
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These are all pictures of what we saw under the microscope. |
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Water Flea - probably named such because they use a hopping motion to "swim" through water. |
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Water Flee and it was moving around too! |
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I still keep this sign in my backyard |
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Our young people worked extremely hard out on the water! |
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All events are rain or shine! |
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Children are always interested in the environment. These volunteers were extremely effective! |
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Home Base - Fort Wayne Bike Depot |
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Biology assessment and microscope for viewing - Thank You Gene Faron |
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Pulling out the safe someone found...heave ho |
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Wolf Spider (I think) found by the Maumee River its a BIG one! |
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Some took the opportunity to bring their OWN floating devices out! |
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Thank you for your gracious support-2 competators coming together for the sake of the river! |
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The boat launch area off Cass St. |
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The illusive dumpster found in another St. Mary's Clean-Up. Photo credit for the pictures in this section:Gene Faron |
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Shopping cart, 3 tires and an airplane wing? Why were these in the Maumee? |
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Caption for this picture "Fort Wayne - Where the 3 Rivers Meet"
Pride for our community historically was for our rivers! |
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