The Spokane River is a very diverse river with much of it being inside urban corridors. That means that unlike a “wilderness River”, the Spokane River is subjected to numerous adverse impacts and exposure to human activities that affect its flow, its quality, and the quality of experience one can expect when traveling along its waters or shores. Everything from hydroelectric dams to lawn fertilizer, to stormwater from streets to urban litter. We deal with many of these impacts but litter is a very real and potent source of pollution that we here at Riverkeeper are continuing to respond to and address.
The garbage pile, before it was bagged by Code Enforcement.
Since 2015, our Litter Program has taken several shapes and forms. Ultimately we have worked with hundreds of volunteers and picked up as much a 90,000 lbs of litter with hundreds of corporate and municipal partners. We have created partnerships that have kept access points open by hauling litter when City of Spokane crews were sidelined due to COVID-19. We partnered with the Spokane River Forum to organize large public cleanup events. We have added and adapted cleanup events, such as DIY events that allow household groups to clean up the river with our supplies and disposal, and maintain social distance protocols during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Of course, we continued to lead groups in litter pick up events as well.
One pile of litter bagged bagged by Code Enforcement.
In 2021 our litter program will continue to evolve and grow to respond to the needs of the River and the community. We will continue to expand our relationship with river users, whom we consider “keepers”, responding to their reports and working with them to remove the litter they identify. Community involvement drives us, through volunteering, monetary support, and advocacy. The community helps us prioritize the many tasks have on our plate, both litter-related and other.
In one recent instance this January, multiple community members identified a very large amount of litter along the shoreline in Peaceful Valley. The community had exhausted its avenues for dealing with this litter. After multiple calls to Spokane’s 311 hotline, emails to the City Council, the Mayor, and the Chief of Police, and after trying to clean the pile themselves, they turned to us. We were pushed to call our community partners at SNAP and the City of Spokane, where we found a partner in Code Enforcement’s litter removal crew. They used their substantial staff and resources to bag the litter, but couldn’t remove it due to the steep riverbank. That’s when we asked another part of the river community, Flow Adventures to step in. Jon Wilmont brought his raft, some platforms for carrying the trash, and a bunch of positive energy. We ultimately loaded two rafts full of the debris and floated them to the TJ Meenach take-out, where Code Enforcement picked it up. Additionally, Lower Crossing residents, Stephanie Swan, and others helped pull litter from the River and bag it up as well.
Jon Wilmont of Flow Adventures loads his boat.
We recognize that we need a coherent, collaborative strategy to remove these large piles of garbage along the riverbanks that accumulate from long term camping or other uses. In 2021, our approach will follow several steps. After we or the community identifies a problem pile of litter, we will assess the situation. If it is a camp that is occupied, we will work with SNAP/Frontier Behavioral Health (who provides outreach on services), and we will work with campers to collect and carry out the trash via our boat. This requires a constant on-the-river presence. However, if the camp is abandoned, it may prove too large of a task to collect any leftover litter with our small team. In this case, we will call Code Enforcement to bag and remove what they can with the use of vehicles. Our Riverkeeper team will remove any litter that is inaccessible by vehicle via the shoreline and our boats.
Our fully loaded boat, ready for the trip downriver.
We rely on reports from the public to spot and prioritize litter “Hot Spots”. If you spot a problem area along the river, please report it at https://www.spokaneriverkeeper.org/report-pollution-1. If you’d like to get involved, please sign up for our email list or our partners at the Spokane River Forum. We will send out emails regarding litter cleanup opportunities via email and Facebook. Remember, we cant keep your river without you all - the citizen “Keepers” who are out there with us every day!