For more information about National River Cleanup, visit www.nationalrivercleanup.org.

Telstar teens to clean trash from river

BETHEL – Telstar High School students will undertake a rafting trip later this month on the Androscoggin River from West Bethel to Bethel.

But it won’t be a white-water cruise.

On Wednesday, May 20, the 16- to 18-year-olds will be armed with garbage bags and towing garbage scow rafts to collect debris as part of National River Cleanup.

Last year’s trash flotilla along the upper Androscoggin yielded more than a ton of debris, among which were bed springs, tires, tire rims, and a discarded outboard motor, said Wende Gray, spokeswoman for the Upper Andro Anglers Alliance in Bethel.

“There’s been a decades-long effort to improve the water quality and fishery,” alliance Director Scott Stone said in a Monday report.

“Now, we need to improve the shoreland zone and access to this wonderful river,” he said.

Members of the alliance, which is coordinating the cleanup, and the students from the Telstar Challenge Course, will launch the flotilla at 9 a.m. from Newt’s Landing in West Bethel and take out at Davis Park in Bethel.

Community members can participate by helping to clean up other stretches of the river.

“With landfill space at a premium, recycling efforts stymied by a lack of plant capacity and toxic waste expensive to control, a grassroots effort can help maintain a constituency for preserving and protecting waterways,” Gray said.

Rivers and watersheds have long been used as dumps for old appliances, shopping carts and other refuse. Litter such as foam cups, food wrappers and plastic bottles floats into waterways, builds up along shorelines and stays there for years, Gray said.

Magic Falls Rafting Co. of West Forks will provide the rafts and garbage scows. American Rivers and National River Cleanup sponsor Tom’s of Maine will supply the trash bags.

The town of Bethel will provide trash collection at Newt’s Landing and Davis Park and will take the trash to Bethel’s solid waste facility. Immediately following the cleanup, Pleasant River Campground in West Bethel will host a barbecue for participants.

National River Cleanup was founded in 1992 by America Outdoors – the largest association of America’s outfitters and guides – to help keep waterways clean.

In 2008, 600 tons of trash and debris were collected and 7,453 miles of rivers were cleaned across the nation.