In January 1969, an oil well off the coast of Santa Barbara, California blew out, causing a massive spill in the Santa Barbara Channel. The largest spill in U.S. waters at the time (it now ranks third after Deepwater Horizon and Exxon Valdez), Santa Barbara soon found an estimated 80,000 to 10,000 barrels of crude oil washing up onto its beaches, killing thousands of marine animals.
The American public was so outraged by the spill that it not only saw the passage of several environmental regulations, but it also led to the creation of the modern environmental movement in the United States, including Earth Day, celebrated every year since 1970 on April 22.
Earth Day was the brainchild of Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson. Nelson’s original idea was a “teach-in” on college campuses across the country, but since then, it has become synonymous with litter cleanups large and small.
Each year, the James River Basin Partnership holds an annual Earth Day cleanup along the James River and the shoreline of Lake Springfield. We average 70-90 attendees doing their part and picking up debris in a truly inspiring gesture. Families, senior citizens, college students, employees from local businesses, all come together to protect our local waters.
It’s always fun to see what unusual pieces of river flotsam and jetsam will come in a canoe or from a river access. One year, it was a nearly complete security camera mounted on a pole from the 1980s. We’ve had a local artist “repurpose” river trash into artwork that was sold at our annual fundraising event, the Sunset Soiree. Other bags of trash were used by Nixa fifth-graders to conduct “trash surveys” of items found in the James. Both are recycling at their finest.
At the end of the day, all the sore muscles and sunburns are worth it, to know way played a small part in restoring our Ozarks streams to the pristine beauty we all appreciate.
A popular saying in our line of work is, “Every day is Earth Day”. You don’t need to organize an official cleanup event to help protect our nation’s waters. Every time you hit the water, think about bringing a trash bag and a grabber to remove floating debris from the body of water you operate on. I’ve literally seen a petty officer aboard a 29-foot Coast Guard response boat lean over the side to remove a pop can bobbing along on Table Rock Lake. It’s a little gesture that gets noticed.
If you’re trailering a boat from one lake or river to another, a simple check of your boat and trailer for “hitchhiking” aquatic invasives like Hydrilla or Zebra mussels also shows one role we play a role in protecting our nation’s maritime domain. The last thing you want is your boat to be a vector for spreading invasives.
Even just the simple act of just using a refillable water bottle to stay hydrated during the workday or on the weekend can make a difference. Local actions truly have big impacts.
Let’s ensure the woods, streams, lakes, and rivers of the Ozarks that we love and enjoy so much are there for future generations. Adopting the “land ethic” of famed conservationist Aldo Leopold truly shows our commitment that every day really is Earth Day.
We’ll see you on the river.
Todd
*Originally published in River Hills Traveler
