Volunteer registration is now open for this summer’s edition of Iowa Project AWARE, the 19th annual river cleanup event. Coordinator Nina Marquardt says this year’s effort will be on the West Fork of the Des Moines River, running July 10th through the 15th
Project AWARE, which stands for A Watershed Awareness River Expedition, brings in volunteers from across the state to pull garbage out of the waterway, which improves water quality and increases the recreational potential while heightening community awareness
Volunteers of all ages can take part one day, all six days, or any amount in between. Educational programs are held nightly ranging in topics from geology, ecology and natural resources to local history and archeology. Since 2003, more than five-thousand volunteers have removed nearly 460 tons of trash from rivers around Iowa, cleaning up more than 12-hundred river miles.
The volunteers always pull a host of items from the rivers, from tires and refrigerators to bowling pins and beer cans. Learn more and sign up to volunteer at: www.iowaprojectaware.org <http://www.iowaprojectaware.org/>