100,000 Pounds of Litter Removed

100,000 Pounds of Litter Removed!

Black Warrior Riverkeeper is proud to announce that our Volunteer Litter Cleanups program has now removed 100,000 pounds of litter! The program’s first full year was 2021, kicked off by a Martin Luther King Day Cleanup with Cahaba Riverkeeper. Since then, we have collaborated with hundreds of cleanup partners, including businesses, civic networks, government agencies, nonprofits, religious organizations, and schools, to protect the Black Warrior River watershed.

When we started planning a cleanups program in late 2020, hoping to engage more people in our watershed stewardship, we were not certain how long it would last or how robust it would be. As a member organization of Waterkeeper Alliance, we always seek to ensure that our Riverkeeper Patrol Program – identifying major pollution problems and promoting solutions – remains central to our services. We knew litter was a widespread problem, particularly with rising concerns over microplastics, but worried that organizing cleanups might compromise our ability to address many other environmental issues through investigating pollution reports and filing lawsuits.

Deciding to dip our toes in the water, I hired Katie Fagan in late 2020 on a part-time and short-term basis to explore the possibility of launching a sustainable cleanups program that would complement our core activities rather than competing with them. Katie immediately did an amazing job organizing cleanups with longstanding allies, such as The University of Alabama Center for Service and Leadership, while establishing many new contacts. Birmingham City Council District 1 quickly became our most engaged partner, with Councilor Clinton Woods and Chief of Staff Amanda Plain leading cleanups with us to this day while inspiring other leaders to follow their great example.

Black Warrior Riverkeeper volunteers enjoy a climb atop the litter they gathered. Photo by Katie Holmes.

Katie Fagan’s momentum helped us receive a pivotal grant from the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham and a Birmingham City Council Resolution supporting our cleanups. She even rescued a dog during a cleanup with the Altamont School! Katie’s ability to guide this new program while enhancing prior pillars of our clean water advocacy convinced me to promote her to a full-time staff position, outreach coordinator, while hiring a succession of excellent part-time helpers for our litter cleanups: Katie Holmes, Rosey White, and Mary Allen Murray.

When Katie Fagan moved to her husband’s hometown in England, Katie Holmes became our new full-time outreach coordinator in late 2023. “Katie 2.0” – as Councilor Woods warmly called her in a recent Birmingham City Council meeting – has engaged an astounding number of volunteers and partners over the last year while also helping us reach new heights in other areas of watershed advocacy. Indeed, while our cleanups just reached a major milestone, we have also won some of our biggest Clean Water Act victories in the past few weeks through multiple legal actions.

As Katie Holmes told me today, “I am thrilled that we have removed over 100,000 pounds of litter from our watershed and I am grateful for the many thousands of volunteers that made this impact to protect our environment and our health. We rely on our partners and community members to make these cleanups successful, and 100,000 pounds is just the beginning!”

Lest anyone thinks we will rest on our laurels at 100,000 pounds, we are committed to continuing and enhancing our Volunteer Litter Cleanups for the sake of every person who is mostly made of water, i.e. everyone. We are also removing trash to protect the abundant wildlife of the Black Warrior River basin, the largest river watershed entirely contained in Alabama, America’s leading state for freshwater biodiversity. To that end, I am pleased to announce that Katie’s excellent tag-team partner, our part-time volunteer coordinator, Mary Allen Murray, has just agreed to another year of service with us!

UAB Football started joining multiple Black Warrior Riverkeeper cleanups this summer, quickly becoming one of our most enthusiastic partners. Photo by Katie Holmes.

I asked Mary Allen to reflect on the achievement that she, Katie, and all our volunteers just reached. She told me, “Hitting the 100,000-pound mark is more than a milestone – it is a testament to the dedication and hard work of our volunteers and community partners. Every piece of litter removed brings us closer to a healthier watershed, and we appreciate your ongoing support in making this and future goals possible.”

How can you support this endeavor? A great first step is to sign up for our monthly email newsletter on this page: blackwarriorriver.org/volunteer-newsletters/ where there is also a link to volunteer opportunities beyond cleanups. Because the Black Warrior watershed includes parts of 17 Alabama counties, we look forward to organizing and promoting cleanups all over this vital river basin, from Smith Lake to Lake Tuscaloosa and all the way to Demopolis.

We also continue to appreciate and support the efforts of volunteers who perform solo cleanups throughout the watershed. Whether a cleanup features one volunteer or a hundred, we appreciate it a great deal, and so do the people in the surrounding communities – as well as those downstream. Many thanks to all of our volunteers, donors, and partners for helping us reach 100,000 pounds!

For cleaner water,

Charles Scribner
Executive Director
Black Warrior Riverkeeper
August 29, 2024