State Holds Big Sweep Oct. 2 To Clean Streams By Mike Shands This year’s North Carolina Big Sweep couldn’t have come at a better time for High Country streams and rivers. Some of the Appalachian Trailblazer 4-H Club members cleaning the Watauga River during Riverfest included, from left, Abby Brown, Emily Cornett, Abi Flanigan, Kristyn Bacot, Maggie Flanigan and Caroline Lonas. That’s the assessment from Wendy Patoprsty, a watershed education agent with the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service. Patoprsty is coordinating this year’s Big Sweep activities for the Watauga River Basin, which includes the Watauga River and several of its tributaries in Watauga and Avery counties. Big Sweep, which provides volunteers with a chance to pick up trash and other debris from North Carolina’s waterways, will be Saturday, Oct. 2 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Last year’s statewide event featured more than 14,000 volunteers pulling more than 450,000 pounds of trash out of the water. In the Watauga River Basin about 115 volunteers collected more than 1,800 pounds of litter from streams. “This year there’s going to be a lot more,” Patoprsty said. That’s because three widespread flooding events – one last November and two in recent weeks from hurricane remnants – have swamped the High Country since last fall’s Big Sweep. “Last year we hadn’t had any huge flood events in between cleanups, and this year there’s been three so there’s just that much more trash that’s in there,” Patoprsty said. “There’s plenty of trash in the river so it’s really important for people in the community to go out and clean it up. “My husband and I and a friend of ours recently cleaned up about 1,000 feet of river and got five or six trash bags, a wheelbarrow, a trash can and all sorts of things.” This year’s Big Sweep should also make a notable difference in streams’ appearances because of where much of the trash is located due to recent high floodwaters, Patoprsty said. “There is a lot of trash, and it’s very visible right now because it’s all up in the trees,” she said. “There’s some in the river, but a lot of it’s up on the banks and up in the trees and shrubs that are next to the river. “Right now it’s real easy to get to a lot of the trash so it should be a really good cleanup this year. This year I hope to more than double our totals from last year so hopefully we’ll have some good volunteers coming out.” Volunteers will have the opportunity to clean up the main stem of the Watauga River and its tributaries in areas such as Valle Crucis, Foscoe, Banner Elk, Elk Park, Sugar Grove, Cove Creek and even in Boone. “I’m trying to pick all sites that are safe, have easy access and are not too far out there just in case,” Patoprsty said. “The thing about it now is you’re really going to have to be careful because a lot of the banks have gotten washed away and so there are some real vertical banks rather than the flat ones. “Getting in and out of the river can be real dangerous. People just need to take common sense with them when they go out to do a cleanup.” Those planning on participating in Big Sweep can do so by themselves, but even if they do Patoprsty prefers that they contact her to avoid duplication of cleanup sites. “We want to make sure that we are not double cleaning sections,” she said. “You don’t want to go out there and clean a portion of the river that’s already been cleaned. That’s the one thing about using a coordinator – it’s easier to know who’s where. “So if people just want to just call me or e-mail me I’ll be more than happy to get them situated with all of the materials that they need and a site if they need.” She can also help individual volunteers team up with others. “It’s usually a lot more fun to go out with a group of people so if you wanted to get yourself and a group together that would be fine, or if you’re just a person who doesn’t have anyone to go with I can connect you with another group,” Patoprsty said. “Sometimes I’ll put two groups together if they’re real small. A lot of times we’ll stack maybe eight or 10 people together, and that seems to work out pretty well. It’s usually a lot easier and more fun to go out with more than three people.” Big Sweep participants should contact Patoprsty to obtain trash bags and other cleanup supplies and for site suggestions. “I can either get them the materials the morning of Big Sweep or sometime before, whatever’s convenient for each group,” she said. “Usually I try to meet with everyone that morning.” Patoprsty said she is still not sure where she plans to meet with volunteers the morning of Big Sweep. “I’m still trying to figure out what site, but I should know soon,” she said. Those who can’t help out Oct. 2 can still do their part on another day. “There’s around 280 miles of stream bank in the Watauga watershed in Watauga and Avery counties, and I can guarantee that we’re not going to get all of that on one day,” Patoprsty said . “Feel free to go on a weekday or on another weekend, but if you can, get your totals of trash to me on how many pounds you think you’ve got. I can then turn it in to the state, and the state can get a good estimate as to how many pounds were cleaned up per county.” Anyone physically incapable of cleaning a river can still help by cleaning up parking lots or roadsides near rivers, she said. “If it rains, that trash in the parking lot is eventually going to end up in the river so you can kind of count that as helping the watershed,” Patoprsty said. “We kind of look at it as a whole watershed event because if there’s trash on the side of the road it’s eventually going to end up in the streams if we have a big rain.” Once that trash finds its way to the streams it can take a long time to decompose. Patoprsty said various litter items require anywhere from years to centuries to decompose. Some of their decomposition times include: 450 years for plastic beverage bottles, 80 to 200 years for aluminum cans, one to five years for cigarette butts, 50 years for foam plastic cups, 50 years for tin cans and 600 years for monofilament fishing line. “The fishing line, I see that all the time stuck in the trees and on the bottom of the river,” Patoprsty said. “You’ll find hooks attached to it. It’s real easy to get animals entangled in monofilament fishing line so it’s real good when you see fishing line to pick that up.” A group of Watauga County 4-H participants got a head start on Big Sweep last month. More than 20 Appalachian Trailblazers 4-H Club members and their parents spent hours cleaning Dutch Creek and the Watauga River in Valle Crucis as part of RiverFest. The club members cleaned about three miles worth of waterways in and near the Valle Crucis Community Park. They also picked up trash around the park itself. The recent severe flooding in Valle Crucis from two hurricane remnants probably deposited a considerable amount of trash in Dutch Creek and the Watauga River since then, though. “It will probably need to be cleaned up again since we have had all of the flooding,” Patoprsty said. For more information about Big Sweep activities in the Watauga River Basin contact Patoprsty at (828) 264-3061. For more information about the statewide Big Sweep effort look online at www.ncbigsweep.org. NCNR Reschedules New River Cleanup The National Committee for the New River (NCNR) has rescheduled its New River Cleanup from Sept. 18 to Oct. 2 because of the threat of severe weather from the remnants of Hurricane Ivan. In Watauga County the NCNR is targeting the New River along the Greenway Trail in Boone, Winkler’s Creek and several other tributaries that flow into the river. There are also several locations in Ashe County in need of cleanup. Those interested in helping during the New River Big Sweep should call (336) 246-4871, send an e-mail to debra@ncnr.org or look online at www.ncnr.org for more information.