Volunteers that came out to clean Wheeler Lake of the Tennessee River in Decatur, Ala. helped to remove 4,017 lbs. of trash, nudging Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful past their 600,000 lb. milestone at the last cleanup during Keep the Tennessee River Watershed Beautiful Month in October.
There’s now nearly 13 tons less trash on the shorelines of local waterways thanks to 107 volunteers who came out to participate in river cleanups to celebrate October’s ‘Keep the Tennessee River Watershed Beautiful Month presented by TVA.’
October’s volunteers also helped Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful (KTNRB) cruise right past its milestone of 600,000 lbs. (or 300 tons) of trash removed from the Tennessee River watershed since it became a nonprofit. A Boeing 747, one of the world’s largest planes, weighs 300 tons to give a physical perspective of the weight of trash removed from the Tennessee River watershed. For context of the group’s momentum: KTNRB had removed 47,756 lbs. of trash before putting its first boat in the water in 2019.
Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful's Kelly Ferguson poses with one of the trash boats that she drove at on the Wheeler Lake cleanup of the Tennessee River in Decatur, Ala. The cleanup was the final stint in Keep the Tennessee River Watershed Beautiful Month presented by TVA.
“We’ve come such a long way in a short window of time, and it’s all thanks to the good people who volunteer their time to protect their waterways by cleaning trash that wasn’t even theirs,” said Kathleen Gibi, KTNRB Executive Director. “This year has been full of new records broken, and the records belong to those thousands of volunteers who have made a commitment to this precious river system of ours.”
In the 2023 calendar year, KTNRB is now setting a new record with every pound collected. So far this year, 205,603 lbs. of trash have been removed from the Tennessee River watershed by 959 volunteers. Gibi said that the cleanup series during October’s celebrations was a perfect example of volunteers from all walks of life, with the series cleanups taking place within rural settings like the Powell River up in New Tazewell, Tenn., to more industrial settings like Ingalls Harbor in Decatur, Ala.
Volunteers from the Tennessee Dept. of Transportation's Region 2 office came out for a cleanup on Chickamauga Lake of the Tennessee River and cleaned several coves around Harrison Bay State Park, removing 4,847 lbs. of trash.
The cleanup series swept through three states and nine cities with just five events:
Oct.14 New Tazewell, Tenn. Powell River | 6,700 lbs. | 28 volunteers
Oct. 15 Bean Station, Tenn. Cherokee Lake | 4,850 lbs. | 18 volunteers
Oct. 19 Harrison, Tenn. Chickamauga Lake | 4,847 lbs. | 20 volunteers
Oct. 28 Iuka, MS/Counce, TN/Waterloo, AL Pickwick Lake | 4,983 lbs. | 25 volunteers
Oct. 29 Decatur, AL Wheeler Lake | 4,017 lbs. | 16 volunteers
TOTAL 25,397 lbs. | 107 volunteers
Volunteers from the Tennessee Dept. of Transportation's Region 2 office stuck around after the Chickamauga Lake cleanup to help Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful's Kathleen Gibi fill up two full trash boats.
The 6th annual river cleanup series was only part of the celebration. ‘Keep the Tennessee River Watershed Beautiful Month’ was officially proclaimed by governors of the four states touched by the Tennessee River, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves, and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear as well as Knoxville Mayor Indya Kincannon and Paris, Tenn. Mayor Kathy Ray.
In addition to TVA’s ongoing sponsorship of the cleanup series, the Tennessee Dept. of Transportation’s Nobody Trashes Tennessee litter prevention campaign and Keep Tennessee Beautiful have consistently funded ‘Keep the Tennessee River Watershed Beautiful Month’ since it launched in 2018. This year’s series consisted of two cleanups held in collaboration with the national nonprofit Living Lands & Waters, who brought three of their 30-foot work boats, and Allegheny CleanWays who brought their 30-foot work boat to supplement KTNRB’s two work boats.
Volunteers load up what turned out to be three boats full of trash during the cleanup on Powell River in New Tazewell, Tenn. to kick off Keep the Tennessee River Watershed Beautiful Month presented by TVA in October.
Gibi said that many local partners made the series a success, including:
Powell River, Tenn.: Bunch Hollow Campground, The Norris Lake Project, and Allegheny CleanWays
Bean Station, Tenn.: Lakeside Marina, Cherokee Lake Users Association, Care N.E.T., Keep Morristown Hamblen Beautiful, and Allegheny CleanWays
Harrison, Tenn.: Harrison Bay State Park, Capital Waste Services of Soddy Daisy, Tennessee Dept. of Transportation Region 2
Counce, TN/Iuka, MS/Waterloo, AL: Grand Harbor Marina, Hardin County Solid Waste, Keep Mississippi Beautiful, Pickwick Parrot Heads, Caterpillar-Reman, Clayton Homes-Savannah, Stryker-MS, Women Who Love Nature – West TN, Living Lands &; Waters
Decatur, AL: Decatur Morgan County Tourism, Decatur Parks & Recreation, TVA, Living Lands & Waters
The national nonprofit Living Lands & Waters came to join two cleanups during Keep the Tennessee River Watershed Beautiful Month. Here, two of the trash boats drive back from collecting trash piles made by volunteers on the Alabama shorelines of Pickwick Lake.
Beyond the cleanup series’ impressive numbers, Gibi said they discovered a cove on Chickamauga Lake that they had cleaned four years prior that had once had chronic litter and was now virtually spotless. She attributed it to a cultural shift since the legacy litter had been removed and ongoing cleanup efforts by their Adopt a River Mile participants as well as river cleanup efforts such as the annual Tennessee River Rescue put on by Waterways.
“That was so encouraging to see at our Chickamauga Lake cleanup this year and we hope to start having that experience more often,” said Gibi. “We’d love to see such a reduction in litter that we work ourselves out of the business of larger river cleanup efforts—and with signs like we saw on Chickamauga Lake, it seems we’re starting to head in that direction!”