Operation Clean Stream volunteers

Kids can help clean Forest Park streams

In April, local kids can get hands-on experience in improving water quality of Missouri streams. The cleanup will be part of St. Louis Earth Day 2002.

(This article is first in an Earth Day series. Also see upcoming March & April editions.)

A Forest Park Operation Clean Stream project will be held on Sunday, April 21, from 9 a.m. to noon. Volunteers will clean up trash along the stream network in Forest Park in downtown St. Louis.

You also get a chance to see the big improvements being made in Forest Park. The park is being improved so it's ready to host the 100th anniversary of the 1904 World's Fair.

The Clean Stream project is just one of nearly two dozen events scheduled for this year's Earth Day celebration.

To learn more about Earth Day 2002, just click here to go to its website. The web address is www.stlouisearthday.org.

Among the sponsors of the stream cleanup is the Open Space Council. That group helps organize the annual cleanup of 160 miles of the Meramec River and its tributaries.

Council Executive Director Ron Coleman calls the Meramec cleanup "America's longest and largest on-going river cleanup project." The cleanup has been held for 35 years.

Young Saint Louis.com wanted to give you an idea of how stream cleanup works. We interviewed three Eureka High School kids who worked on last fall's Meramec cleanup.

Of course, the Forest Park streams are much smaller than the Meramec River. But, the cleanup ideas are much the same. This year's Forest Park volunteers can get a taste of cleanup and then maybe volunteer for the Meramec event.

Zack Beavers

Fifteen-year-old Zack Beavers is a sophomore at Eureka High. He said he got "wet and very dirty" during the Meramec work. "But, I thought it was worthwhile and I'll do it again," he said.

Caleb Patton is a junior at Eureka High. He said it felt "a little weird" to be searching for trash near and in the river.

"My family and I do a lot of fishing in Missouri parks and they are usually clean. But, on the Meramec, you would see whole cars in the river," he said.

Caleb said his cleanup crew saw "lots of submerged tires." But, he said the most unusual trash he saw was melted lead fragments on one of the river beaches. He said no one knew where the lead came from.

Caleb Patton

Katie Belleville

Katie Belleville is a junior at Eureka High. She said the Meramec cleanup experience wasn't "the most fun I've ever had." But, she added, "When we were working together, that made it fun."

The kids used canoes on the river to search for submerged trash.

Beavers, Patton and Belleville are all members of their school's Environmental Club.

Teacher Dianne Johnson has led the club for 10 years. In recent years, she and club members have helped on the Meramec. This year, they joined members of the St. Louis chapter of the Audubon Society in cleaning two stretches of the river.

The Eureka kids did cleanup work on land at the new Route 66 State Park along Interstate 44. Also, they used canoes on the river in Valley Park. That community is planning redevelopment of the Meramec as it runs through town.

Eureka's Environmental Club meets twice a month. Its members also do at least one service project each month.

Operation Clean Stream volunteers

One of the club projects involved cleanup of the school's campus. Members also have made bird houses and hung them in the nearby Rockwood Reservation. Birds attracted to the houses help park visitors on their bird-watching hikes.

Volunteers for the Forest Park Operation Clean Stream will meet before 9 a.m. Sunday, April 21. The meeting place is the lower parking lot for The Muny.

Organizers urge volunteers to dress appropriately. For one thing, that means dress in old clothes so you won't mind getting dirty. Kid volunteers need adult supervision.

All volunteers will receive lunch and a free Stream Team T-shirt for their efforts.

The Earth Day website will include contact information for the stream cleanup as well as other Earth Day events.