Project Clearwater — Expedition Four
Project Clearwater — Expedition Four
The forecast called for light rain all day, but when you’re going to be working in the bayou, what’s a little clean water but a refreshing rinse? It helps, I suppose, that all our work so far has been completely human powered — a bit of water has never shorted out a handsaw. Read more…
Project Clearwater
Expedition Four [upcoming]
So, we have come at last to #11, the first of the big three. The plan is to launch from the park at 8am for the paddle downstream (left) to the blockage. We’ll return when we’re running out of day to work with (or in the unlikely event we actually finish early). It’s a two-mile paddle each way, and there’s a lot of lumber at the end.
Anyone wanting to lend a hand can either ride along with us for the full experience or just show up and leave whenever seems reasonable. The red Kia with the canoe trailer will be there to verify we’re on the bayou. If anyone wants to just pick litter, that’s always welcome. Feel free to drop any full bags off on any convenient tree, mud flat, or whatever, and we’ll grab them in the canoes as we head back to the park.
Project Clearwater — Expedition Three
Project Clearwater — Expedition Three
This is Baton Rouge, so when the weather forecast predicted 100% chance of rain along with thunderstorms, possibly severe, we knew just what to do: go enjoy a productive and precipitation-free work day on Bayou Fountain. We figured we’d get some work in before the weather made us head for shelter, but it turned out that the fall of twilight was what sent us packing. Read more…
Project Clearwater
Expedition Three (or 2.5)
After last weekend’s cleanup/clearing expedition, we need to pick up the Anaconda (and some additional litter). We’d also like to try to clear through the next smaller blockages to make way for a major assault on Blockage #11, the next *major* blockage. The weather looks iffy, and if thunderstorms start threatening, the day will be cut short. This being Louisiana, we figure we may end up with a window long enough to be able at least to get the Anaconda off of Mr. Rackley’s land where we had to stage it last week due to lack of space, and there’s no telling what the weather will actually do.
We’ll post our personal green light on the PaddleBR twitter account in the morning, assuming the thunderstorms haven’t started up, but if the weather looks worse to you, by all means enjoy a good book and a relaxing indoor Saturday and join in next time. It’s a day for flexibility, as it’s not good for anybody to be paddling or working in water or by trees during thunderstorms, so it stands a good chance of being aborted early.
Project Clearwater — Expedition Two
Project Clearwater — Expedition Two
This time we had four people out on the water for what was originally supposed to be a clearing operation. The water was higher than normal and flowing a bit, so it was an easy ride down to Blockage #7. Upon arrival, however, the plan changed a bit, as all the litter that had been upstream last time (with the water flowing ever so slightly that direction) had been collected by the current and was now waiting back at #7.
Frankly, it looked almost as bad as when we were just there, but it really wasn’t quite as bad as it appeared. Most of the litter was surface litter, with much less layering than last time. Still, it was quite a bit, so we turned the day into a hybrid litter-picking and logjam-clearing project. It worked out quite well, although both aspects took longer and more effort than anticipated.
By the time we called it a day, the downstream-left side of the jam had been cleared to a nice wide path, and a good pile of bags was collected to paddle back out. We didn’t get everything, however. While we were successful in extracting almost all of the Anaconda, we did not have the space to carry it back to the extraction point. (The Anaconda is a *huge* length of wide 8-mil LDPE plastic that was wound around some tree trunks and was the actual cause of a large portion of the logjam.) We had to leave it behind for the time being, but we’re planning to return with the Canoemaran to remove it for measurement and disposal.
We were wrapping up and leaving the park around 5pm, having arrived just a bit before 8am, and at least a couple of us were *quite* worn out from shifting all that wood. In the end, we didn’t even get any notable precipition. It was a long, hard day, but as the photo above shows, Blockage #7 is now quite easily passable, so on with the show.
Project Clearwater
Expedition Two [upcoming]
Saturday, December 14 is our next planned expedition for Project Clearwater. The plan is to pick up where we left off at blockage #7 and continue forward from there as far as we can manage in a full work day. We anticipate that we will be able to make it to blockage #11, the first of the three *major* blockages. It is… unlikely… that we will make it beyond that one this expedition, barring significant help or mechanical assistance.
Launching will be from the park at 8am as usual, and we’ll have our standard clearing gear loadout. If anyone would like to pick litter, that is always an option, and we would be happy to support your efforts with surplus carrying capacity. See the Upcoming Events page for details or contact information.
Cleanup On Fountain
Cleanup On Fountain
Results:
- One kayak, one canoe, and one Canoemaran
- 31 bags of collected litter
- 8 wheels with tires (5 full-size, 3 spares)
- 1 door (with 2 panes of intact glass)
- 2 each: extinguishers, coolers, cooler lids, ride-on toys, frisbees
- 1 zombie survival kit (9 arrows, one baseball bat, and a hockey helmet/mask)
- And… Read more…
Cleanup On Fountain (upcoming)
Project Clearwater — Cleanup On Fountain
Saturday, November 16, 2013
Launching: Bayou Fountain at Highland Road Park, 8am.
Recovering: Bayou Fountain at Highland Road Park, when the work is done.
Mission:
Project Clearwater’s primary mission on Bayou Fountain pauses Saturday, December 16th, to make time for a cleanup. With the first six blockages open enough to get the Canoemaran through, it’s time to hit the large litter raft at #7.
We’ll be there to launch at 8am with the Canoemaran and our gear. (You’ll know we’re there if my little red car with a canoe trailer is sitting there, and if you don’t see the boats, we’re no more than 3/4 mile downstream/to the left when you hit the water.) While the Canoemaran’s awesome carrying power is such that we will gladly accept any donations of litter collected while we’re out there, litter transport is all that is provided. The entry and exit is difficult but not treacherous, but at the very least you will get dirty. (Last trip out I came back with a bivalve *inside* my boot.)
We do know lots of friendly people with boats, so if you want to come pick litter, the lack of your own boat should not stop you. On the other hand, if you don’t like getting dirty doing work in a primitive, uncontrolled environment, you may want to watch for the kinder, gentler excursions. :)
Project Clearwater
Expedition One
Success!
We hit the bayou early Sunday morning and headed downstream. From the start, things were a bit more… interesting… than they had seemed. Let’s just say that the word “fork” is now a bad word to us thanks to block number five.
We found the key log that was blocking everything, so we cut through that. Oh, but wait, there’s another one, so we cut through that. Ah, but that was just one side of a large forked branch, so we cut through that. Finally the big log seemed like it was moving… and so was that stump end over there… and so is that end on the other bank… and that stick poking out downstream… and that other limb floating over there. We ended up making over half a dozen separate cuts to free parts of what turned out to be one very tall multi-trunked tree that had fallen completely across the bayou. It’s all wedged together nicely near the green bank now, providing lovely fish habitat while not blocking the entire bayou.
Anyway, with that and quite a bit of work on the others (including number six, which did a fascinating imitation of the world’s largest propeller before we finally got both ends to move the same direction), the bayou is open all the way to number seven, where the litter raft is waiting. Stay tuned…
Project Clearwater
Expedition One [upcoming]
We’re heading out this Sunday on a mission to open blockages #1-6 to clear the way for the Canoemaran all the way to the litter raft at #7.
- Downed narrow tree
- Mud-embedded branched tree
- Downed narrow tree
- Embedded logs, sticks, and branches
- Downed trunk, logs, and branches
- Large downed tree — too big for hand saw, winch around
Heavy manual labor, here we come!
PaddleBR 