It’s All Good on River Time

Iowa's Project AWARE River Cleanup Shows There's Still Good in the World

I kept thinking to myself, “How far back in here do I have to drive?”

This past July, I’d been invited to share my “Adventures Along the Lincoln Highway” history program with the volunteers of Iowa Project AWARE (A Watershed Awareness River Expedition)—the state’s largest river cleanup event.

Fortunately, I connected with my contact person easily once I reached the campground. “No worries,” said my hosts. “We’re on river time.”

Turns out this was the 20th annual Iowa Project AWARE event, and an impressive 315 volunteers gathered for the big event. They paddled canoes down 58 miles of the Iowa River from July 9-14, removing all kinds of junk along the way. We’re talking serious trash here, including tires, mannequin heads, appliances and farm equipment (some of it 100 years old). Nina Marquardt, project manager for Iowa Project AWARE, noted that the crew hauled 21,360 pounds (10.7 tons) of junk from the Iowa River. An amazing 96% of this (20,520 pounds, including 161 tires) can be recycled.

I asked Lynette Seigley, who helps coordinate Iowa Project AWARE, how this all started. She mentioned Chad Pregracke, “The River Rescuer,” who started a movement to help clean up the Mississippi River. Inspired by his work, three dozen volunteers spent a week of their summer in 2003 camping, canoeing and picking up trash from the Maquoketa River. That first-of-its-kind event became known as Iowa Project AWARE. It quickly became the state’s largest volunteer river cleanup.

While it started as an Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) event, today Project AWARE operates through a nonprofit organization known as N-Compass, Inc. Major partners include the DNR and the State Hygienic Laboratory at The University of Iowa. Hundreds of participants come back each year for this unique event, including multi–generational family groups, youth groups, church groups, and scouting groups.

One gentleman I met said his kids grew up participating in Project AWARE. Now they plan their vacations around this annual, can’t-miss event.

Even though they’re on “river time,” these volunteers work hard. They’ve cleaned the Boone River, Maquoketa River, Cedar River, Lower Des Moines River, Wapsipinicon River, Big Sioux River, Iowa River, Little Turkey, Turkey and Volga Rivers; West and East Nishnabotna Rivers; Cedar River, Winnebago River, Shell Rock River, Middle and North Raccoon River, English River and Little Sioux River.

            The Project AWARE team is just as diligent about tracking results as cleaning up Iowa’s rivers. In the past 20 years, 6,223 volunteers from across the country have been part of this effort. They’ve cleaned1,429 river miles of nearly 1 million (979,480 pounds, to be exact) of trash. A majority (81%) of this trash has been recycled. Wow!

I checked in with my friend Jodi Henke from Norwalk and her daughter Michaela, who started volunteering with Project AWARE in 2021 and helped clean up the Iowa River this summer.

“Hearing a loud whoop! from around the river bend means someone found something cool—probably their first tire,” Jodi informs me. “Also, some of the nicest people you’ll ever meet are wet, filthy dirty, stinky and so proud of trash they collect. We totally believe in what we’re doing. Every piece of trash that we pull out of the river is one less thing to potentially harm the environment.”

For someone like me who cares about Iowa’s water quality, that’s great news. It also speaks to the goodness of Iowans. There’s nothing quite like Project AWARE in any other state. These volunteers know it's all good when you’re on river time.

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Jody Gifford: Benign Inspiration, West Des Moines

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Pat Kinney: View from Cedar Valley, Waterloo

Fern Kupfer: Fern and Joe, Ames

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Tar Macias: Hola Iowa, Iowa

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John Naughton: My Life, in Color, Des Moines

Chuck Offenburger: Iowa Boy Chuck Offenburger, Jefferson and Des Moines

Barry Piatt: Piatt on Politics: Behind the Curtains, Washington, D.C.

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