Friends of Pool 9 Mississippi River Clean-Up returns after uncontrollable two-year absence


All in the family ... Members of the Verdon family stand by a filled dumpster at Black Hawk Park during the Friends of Pool 9 river clean-up. Pictured, left to right, are Ben Verdon, Brody and Tyler Verdon, and Todd, Trevor and John Verdon. Submitted photo.

Evidence of its necessity ... An over-flowing dumpster at the Brennan Landing in south Lansing attests to the efforts of volunteers to remove trash from Pool 9 of the Mississippi River during the 2021 river clean-up. After an absence each of the last two years due to water levels in 2019 and the COVID-19 pandemic last year, the annually scheduled event was able to take place and involved over 100 volunteers. Submitted photo.

Another generation of help ... Young Kee Hawk volunteer Andrew Kolsrud adds a barrel to the boat while Jacob Galema removes blue styrofoam from the backwater north of Lansing. The two were among the more than 100 volunteers who took part in the April 24 Friends of Pool 9 River Clean-Up on the Mississippi River. Submitted photo.

The weather and water level cooperated Saturday, April 24 as a hundred volunteers cleaned Pool 9 of the Mississippi River. Those volunteers came from all parts of Iowa, Wisconsin and Minnesota to participate in the annual event.

“In reality, it’s an outgrowth of the Earth Day goal ‘To Restore Our Earth’ celebrated April 22 every year,” event organizers shared. “Their efforts were rewarded with the thousands of pounds of debris pulled from the Mississippi River, and it made the river and everyone else feel a whole lot better.”

The 90 square miles of Pool 9 (31 miles in length) had not been cleaned for the past two years. The event had been first canceled by high water in 2019 and then by the pandemic in 2020.

With gloves and garbage bags in-hand they descended on the river valley from all angles and all parts of the pool. Many walked the shorelines, while others cleaned the 17 landings on both sides of the pool. Some walked the Highway 82 dike, at times struggling to climb down over the rock rip-rap to collect a bottle or some other discarded piece of debris.

This was accomplished by younger volunteers from Kee High School and De Soto High School, but included a lot of older adults as well. The group filled 26 40-gallon garbage bags with trash, and also collected several tires, a trailer hub and plastic pieces from an auto body.

Many volunteers launched boats and navigated the backwaters, while others walked the beaches and cleaned fire rings. Barrels, plastic bottles and buoys were common items. Some buoys were so mired in mud they could not be retrieved at this time.

Volunteers gave up the comfort of their homes for a windy and chilling day on 50-degree water. Alex Galema, recently elected President of Friends of Pool 9 (FOP9) commented, “I wish I could personally thank each of the volunteers that came out today. These small-town folks have a real concern and commitment to taking care of Pool 9, making it one of the best on the Upper Mississippi, and I’m proud to be part of FOP9. It was just a good day for everyone.”

The Mississippi River is a natural flowing waterway running through the middle of America. It’s one of the greatest drainage systems on planet Earth, and runs right through many of the front yards of the volunteers who helped clean it. They feel it is their responsibility to help protect and take care of it for future generations.

The Friends of Pool 9, Inc. was founded in 2006 by a group of 25 concerned individuals. They had a vision for the future and wanted to be part of the solution for the Mississippi River. The mission of that group was and still is, “To conserve the cultural and natural resources within Pool 9, and to foster the wise public use and enjoyment of the Refuge and the Upper Mississippi River.”

The Board of Directors and President Alex Galema thank everyone for giving their time to take care of the river. In just a few hours volunteers searched every mile of the pool to remove debris. They all gave a few hours, and together it became hundreds of hours. At the end of the day, they had removed thousands of pounds of trash from the river.

The event organizers also expressed their appreciation to all the sponsors that supplied materials and allowed the use of their landings, as well as to Lansing IGA, Lansing VFW, Brennan Construction, Allamakee County Waste Management, Vernon County Waste Management, Waste Management of Prairie du Chien, the City of Ferryville and Dairyland Power Cooperative.

“But the biggest ‘Thank You’ has to go to the foot soldiers, the ones that walked the roads and scraped their knees, and traveled by boat to hidden locations in the backwater where the trash was embedded,” event organizers praised. “Thanks to all of you, it was a really good day.”