Registration is open for the fifth annual Big Clinch River Cleanup set for 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, July 22. Start with breakfast at the Museum of Appalachia, 2819 Andersonville Highway, Norris.
Everyone who enjoys the river, from anglers to kayakers to wildlife watchers, is invited to help remove litter from the Clinch and its banks. The communitywide cleanup is an expansion of annual pickups run for many years by members of the Clinch River Chapter, Trout Unlimited, which hosts the event. Last year, 110 volunteers from 34 ZIP codes gathered tires and trash from the river.
Volunteers work in a variety of ways:
* Above the water line, workers walk along riverside roads and through parking areas, gathering trash.
* Volunteers wearing waders patrol for litter in shallow water.
* In kayaks and canoes, volunteers work to clean shorelines and shallow water where there is no public access by road.
* In powerboats, volunteers haul tires and other large items from the depths.
Support for all the teams is supplied by volunteering emergency medical people, ham radio operators, tire disposal professionals and workers with trucks who collect and dispose of filled trash bags.
The first 100 volunteers to register will qualify for a free full breakfast at the picturesque museum (expenses of the meal are supported by a grant from the Tennessee Valley Authority). Register: https://crctu.org. Info: Rusty Hallett at hallettrusty@gmail.com or 859-227-1227, or Dave Easter at dleaster660@gmail.com or 859-608-7090. The event will be held rain or shine (in case of severe weather, the breakfast will be held but volunteers will stay on shore).