Kids help in Operation Clean Stream

Drew Hayden

Drew and Daphne Hayden of Fenton took part in this summer's Operation Clean Stream. For them, it was like helping to clean up their front yard.

The Hayden family has lived on a bluff overlooking the Meramec River for three years. That's how long their parents, Bob and Louise Hayden, have headed up the Fenton Stream Team.

Eight-year-old Drew and 14-year-old Daphne join their parents twice a year on clean-up crews along the Meramec. Their efforts are part of semi-annual river cleanups sponsored statewide by the Missouri Department of Conservation.

There are over 200 Stream Teams in the St. Louis metro area alone.

The teams of volunteers are dedicated to cleaning area streams of trash and debris. The goal is to make the streams more beautiful and useful for outdoor recreation.

Drew will be a 3^rd grader at St. Paul Catholic School in Fenton. He said, "We live right by the river. We hate trash in the river."

Daphne Hayden

After a half-day picking up trash along and in the river, Drew showed that cleanup can be dirty work. But, he said it's worth it.

About 50 kids and adults worked on the Fenton Stream Team's area of the Meramec on the fourth Saturday in August. The winter cleanup is the fourth Saturday of February.

They were part of the cleanup effort on the Meramec and four of its tributaries, the Courtios, the Huzzah, the Big and the Bourbeuse rivers. Other teams were assigned to other area rivers and streams.

If you'd like to get involved in the MDC's Stream Team program, visit the program's website at www.mostreamteam.org. Or you can contact the MDC's Stream Unit at P.O. Box 180, Jefferson City, Mo. 65102.

Or you could contact the MDC's regional office at the Busch Conservation Area in St. Charles County at (636) 441-4554. There's likely to be a stream team located near you.

Daphne Hayden is an 8^th grader at St. Paul School.

Jordan Kolb, Olivia Hogan and Kandy Pohrer (left to right)

About the Meramec, she said, "We look at the river every day." She said the family's recreational use of the river is primarily with their two Yamaha jet skis.

She said she took part in her first river cleanup with her Girl Scout group. However, for the last three years, she's been working with her parents' stream team. In the summer cleanup, she worked on the crew that fed the volunteers at the end of the event.

Among the kid volunteers working with the Fenton team were three other girls from St. Paul School.

Thirteen-year-old Jordan Kolb said she was on her third cleanup. All have been on the Meramec.

She said puts helping with the cleanup on her list of best outdoor experiences. "I like to hangout with my friends. And I know I'm helping to keep the river clean," she said.

Jordan is an 8^th grader at St. Paul. She said she likes to go swimming in the Meramec. She said she usually goes at a nearby sheltered cove called the Shutins.

Zach O'Keefe

With Jordan on the summer cleanup were 13-year-old Olivia Hogan and 14-year-old Kandy Pohrer. They also are 8^th graders at St. Paul and all live in Fenton.

Olivia said she uses the river for boating and skiing along with swimming. Kandy said she does most of her water recreation at her family's vacation home on the Lake of the Ozarks. But, she likes to help keep the Meramec clean.

Asked about the most unusual trash she found, she mentioned an old sneaker. "It was pretty decomposed," she said.

Eleven-year-old Zach O'Keefe and his father came up from Jefferson County to help with the Meramec cleanup.

He said he's found old tires, life jackets, sunken boats and "all sorts of foam" during cleanup efforts.

Zach and his family live near the Big River. He said he swims and fishes both from the bank and from a boat. His boating is with both motor boats and canoes.

Bob Hayden said the river cleanup is a continuing process. "There's a lot of flood debris and there's still 10,000 old tires left to be picked up." During this summer's cleanup, the volunteers loaded their debris into small boats. When filled, the boats were towed to the ramp at the George Winter Park in Fenton.

The loads were consolidated and put into trucks for a trip to a nearby landfill. Then, it was time for the volunteers to have their session-ending lunch.