What's a cleanup?

What's a Cleanup?

FOSR either organizes or participates in several cleanups per year.
The two main cleanup activities are removing trash, and removing invasive plants. Any particular event may do one or the other, or both. The sites are usually along the river, in one of the parks.
These are before-and-after shots taken below Greenlawn Dam.

The main thing that makes it all work is people! Members of watershed groups, or national organizations like the Sierra Club, and lone walk-on volunteers join employees of companies whose mission statements include contributing to community efforts. The group provides a way for these interests to converge.

Some trash is left by people, and some is left by the river. Anything that can float with the sticks and leaves will blend in with them. It can be washed far back into the woods by high water, and it can last for many years there until removed. Some of the trash is thrown or dumped, even by the people who use the parks.

Every cleanup brings up a few "How did this get here?" oddball items. We often find tires and furniture, smashed televisions, etc. Here we're taking a piece of PVC pipe out of the Scioto, and a shopping cart out of the Olentangy river.

At the end of the cleanup, there's a big pile of trash. Some of it can be sorted for recycling, but most is too contaminated. We have to be careful handling it, and proper disposal is always the last step.

Invasive plant removals usually focus on honeysuckle, a foreign shrub that is choking our parks. We have removed tons of it with the help of volunteers - it's hard work! It is so thick that removing it can make it look like there was a clear-cut, but that opens opportunities for native species. Here burdock and hickory are sprouting where honeysuckle once stood.

FOSR either organizes or participates in several cleanups per year. The two main cleanup activities are removing trash, and removing invasive plants. Any particular event may do one or the other, or both. The sites are usually along the river, in one of the parks. These are before-and-after shots taken below Greenlawn Dam.
The main thing that makes it all work is people! Members of watershed groups, or national organizations like the Sierra Club, and lone walk-on volunteers join employees of companies whose mission statements include contributing to community efforts. The group provides a way for these interests to converge.
Some trash is left by people, and some is left by the river. Anything that can float with the sticks and leaves will blend in with them. It can be washed far back into the woods by high water, and it can last for many years there until removed. Some of the trash is thrown or dumped, even by the people who use the parks.
Every cleanup brings up a few "How did this get here?" oddball items. We often find tires and furniture, smashed televisions, etc. Here we're taking a piece of PVC pipe out of the Scioto, and a shopping cart out of the Olentangy river.
At the end of the cleanup, there's a big pile of trash. Some of it can be sorted for recycling, but most is too contaminated. We have to be careful handling it, and proper disposal is always the last step.
Invasive plant removals usually focus on honeysuckle, a foreign shrub that is choking our parks. We have removed tons of it with the help of volunteers - it's hard work! It is so thick that removing it can make it look like there was a clear-cut, but that opens opportunities for native species. Here burdock and hickory are sprouting where honeysuckle once stood.