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Project AWARE 2004: The New Guy Gets His Hands Dirty
by Michael Dhar
Posted: September 17, 2004

After four days worth of Project AWARE brush cleaning, canoe paddling, and mud-buried trash digging, I can now wave a pair of dirt-encrusted, formerly white work gloves like a victory banner. In an ideal world, I would do so astride my canoe, with a heap of vanquished trash beneath me, and the wild waters of Lizard Creek surging around me.

The DNR's second-annual watershed appreciation and protection event, Project AWARE, took place during the third week of June this year. As the newly appointed communications point man for the Keepers of the Land AmeriCorps program, I joined the weeklong AWARE program for its first four days.

Of course, you can only observe and take notes for so long before you succumb to the temptation to pick up a handsaw and start hacking at invasive species, or plunge your hands into riverbank mud to dig out an old oil drum.

With an equal mixture of prairie rescues, canoe cleanups, and educational adventures, Project AWARE attracted more than 100 people. Heavy rains and high waters forced event organizers to alter the original plan - a 107 mile trek down the Des Moines River. They instead opted for a Plan B that included prairie rescues, lake-cleanups, and day trips to tributaries like Soldier and Lizard Creeks.

Volunteer Carl Schumann and author Michael Dhar cut out invasive species

"The fact that we can't paddle the river highlights how serious the issue is," said AWARE participant and Iowa State University biology professor, Jim Colbert. "If this watershed were healthy, we could paddle."

Watershed management efforts that address rapid runoff sources like storm water sewers, paved surfaces, and tile lines would help reduce the sudden flow to the rivers, thus minimizing the frequency and extent of floods.

For many participants, this trip was their vacation - they traded in relaxing, all-inclusive getaways for spotting Styrofoam shards along shorelines, plucking tires from stream banks, and removing acres of invasive trees from Iowa's diminishing prairies.

"I wanted an active vacation, wanted to get some sun, and I wanted to give something back to the community," said Phyllis Jessen of Des Moines. "This fit the bill."

Project AWARE inspired passion in all, and even lunacy in some. Get approximately 60 people together at one time, all of whom share a love for the outdoors and a willingness to protect and preserve it, arm them with gloves, trash bags, canoes, and paddles, and strange things can happen.

An exceptionally motivated crew pulled their canoes to the shore of Lizard Creek with the goal of removing several hundred pounds of wire fencing from the streambed. They accomplished this mission by rigging a block and tackle system to a nearby tree, hoisting the monstrosity up a seven-foot bank, all while splashing around in hip-deep water.

Another participant found a child's doll in the muck, and affixed it to a stake outside his tent - a warning, I presume, to any other trash that dared enter the river. Of course, a number of bed frames, beer signs, motorcycles, dirty underwear, cars, refrigerators, sunken boats, and teddy bears had already found their way there.

With the help of 27 sponsors and the determination of 109 volunteers, these items completed the cycle - over 90% of the trash removed on AWARE was recycled.

"These people are motivated," said retired Ankeny native Carl Schumann, a newcomer to paddling who took canoeing and kayaking classes with the sole purpose of participating in Project AWARE. "All the people - they see a piece of trash, they pick it up. They have the attitude they're going to leave the place better than they found it."

Even if it means getting a little dirty.