No wake zone is observed

On Sunday the river was crowded with bass boats, and I witnessed an amazing sight. During the afternoon the Morgantown Lock gates opened and between 8-10 bass boats emerged, coming down river from fishing in the next pool. They all passed through Morgantown harbor at a slow speed!  They were here for a tournament and must have all agreed to observe the no wake zone law.

Thanks to all boaters on the river who are abiding by the new law and no-wake zone!  Our river is much safer now - this 3/4 mile section, and we do appreciate those boaters who are helping.

River cleanup before triathlon

Wow! It's triathlon time in Morgantown, just about.

I've done a river cleanup every year, so let's pull out the calendar and put a big CLEANUP on next Friday, June 22. That's two days before the event on June 24.

The reason for doing this is simple: there will be a lot of visitors to our town all along the river, and I want it to look good.

So, if you are interested in joining the crew of the Monongahela Monitor, our 28 foot riverboat, on Friday, let me know. Send and email to me at info@monriver.org.  We will go out for about 3 hours that evening around 5.  Back by dark anyway.

Want to help with a donation?  You can do that!  We have a bunch of costs, including boat maintenance, gas, etc. You can donate here: : http://www.causes.com/cleanmonriver

No wake zone sign is up!

Here it is, the no wake zone!  As we were painting this Wednesday evening a rower went by and shouted, "I love it!"

There are people who are going to complain about this 3/4 mile part of a 127-mile-long river, but, in my opinion, we may have saved that young lady, or another, or a swimmer or kayaker, from death or serious injury by getting this designation through. I've seen a lot of close calls down there on the river. So, let's cool it a little in this area folks.  Thanks.

It is state law.  Title 58, Series 27, 3.1.6.  Just in time for the Arts Alive festival this weekend.


Thanks to Chris Wilson and Biao Qiu (on left) for the help. Also thanks to Mark Wise at BOPARC.

Second kiosk is finished, at last....

With a grant from the Longview power plant, we have been installing kiosks along the river with historical information and an anti-litter message.  We installed one at the mouth of Deckers Creek where there is a beautiful little "peninsula" that often draws people who fish, but who also leave litter behind. 

We installed a kiosk there with a litter barrel in late 2010.  It works!  We emptied the barrel on Memorial Day.  It was quite full. People are using it instead of leaving litter on the ground near the river.

Now we have our second at Walnut Street where the boat launch ramp is.  We used a high quality outdoor bulletin board for this one, and it looks great. Click the photo to see close up.  You can even see the message about how plastic in the river may contribute to the deaths of albatross in the ocean and the photo of the Sunday school group at the Presbyterian church with a banner that says, "Keep Our River Clean; Use the Litter Barrel."

Thanks to Chris Wilson and Biao Qiu, a WVU volunteer from China in the College of Engineering and Mineral Resources.  We did some very hard digging to sink the post for this one, unlike the Deckers Creek kiosk, which was in soft sand.

Our next kiosk will be installed soon at the Star City park, right next to the boat ramp.

Kiosk work, river baptisim,

On Sunday, Chris, Biao and I tried to finish up work on our Walnut Street information kiosk. This is our second installation. The other is at the mouth of Decker's Creek.  We didn't finish, but made some progress, and we'll soon have this up. Funds for these have been provided by Longview Power.

Regardless, we got to witness something really neat - a river baptism. As we were encountering yet another difficulty with hanging the kiosk bulletin board, a group of people approached and one person introduced himself as the preacher of the Catalyst Church, which meets up on High Street.

He said they were coming to a baptism.

Pretty soon everyone gathered round and we stopped work and one of the congregation waded into the water, still rather cold, and was baptized.  I mentioned to the preacher how I understand the river to be sacred, that rivers are, and how I thought river baptisms had died out but was glad to get to see one.

Many rivers are sacred, perhaps all.  Maybe all water is sacred.

"In Xanadu did Kubla Khan

A stately pleasure-dome decree :

Where Alph, the sacred river, ran

Through caverns measureless to man

Down to a sunless sea."  -Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Have potato chips, no boat

I received a big box on my front porch Friday. It was a surprise: a huge box of individual Boulder Canyon chips. The company is sponsoring the American Rivers cleanup campaign and I guess they send chips to all the participants.

So, I've got chips, but had to cancel our cleanup on Saturday because my boat isn't quite ready to launch.  So, I'll save the chips for our next attempt.  I believe that will be the last weekend in April, which is still pretty early for our summer cleanups. 

Here's what the chip folks have to say:

Boulder Canyon is a proud sponsor of American Rivers and the National River Cleanup because we share the same vision and dedication to a better, more natural environment.   We help communicate that message with the American Rivers logo prominently displayed on our bags. Boulder Canyon also donates cases of chips, volunteer t-shirts, and trash bags to all river cleanups. Last year we donated over 70,000 trash bags used by volunteers to remove debris from rivers across the country. This year American Rivers will host approximately 500 cleanups thanks to 60,000 volunteers who help communities keep their rivers clean and trash-free.

Thanks to American Rivers and Boulder Canyon!   I also received a box of trash bags from American Rivers.So, we are all set for our outing in May.  I did have a chance to reconnoiter the river on Saturday in my kayak.  There's a lot of litter for us to clean up and I can't wait to get started.  This was rather early to be out, as the water is still pretty cold.  So, May will be better anyway.

Saturday's cleanup postponed

Because I'm having some difficulty getting the Monongahela Monitor launched for the summer, I need to cancel the American Rivers cleanup that was scheduled for Saturday, April 14. We were trying to get an early start (we don't usually get out until May), but it looks like it will be later in April before the boat's ready.

Sorry for any inconvenience.