Dougherty Rivers Alive’s Flint River clean-up event sees more than 500 pounds of trash removed

ALBANY – Dozens of people descended upon the Flint River’s banks and channels on foot and in kayaks to clean up litter for the 21st annual Rivers Alive Flint River Clean-Up Saturday. 

The annual event was hosted by Keep Albany-Dougherty Beautiful, an organization focused on beautifying the county, and sponsored by Albany’s Molson Coors Brewery. The Flint Riverkeeper partners with KADB each year to bring volunteers out on kayaks to get harder-to-reach trash. During the past 21 years, volunteers have removed 58.29 tons of debris from the banks and the bed of the Flint. 

On Saturday, more than 500 pounds of trash were removed from the river. Paddlers made their way from the Georgia Power Dam to Radium Springs Landing, pausing and docking along banks to clear out any trash. 

They found tires, “Live, Laugh, Love” wall art, fabric scraps, old jewelry, bottles and even a shopping cart. Low water levels revealed even more trash that had long settled along the river. Robert Gipaya, the Flint Riverkeeper’s watershed field specialist, said the annual event has a twofold benefit.

“You have the environmental part – getting out and cleaning up, but also the community aspect,” he said. “We have our office here in Albany, and we want to partner with this community as much as we can. I think that’s really the important part, just spending a day on the water and giving your community a chance to help out.”

Jim Wright, a code enforcement officer in Upson County, traveled almost two hours to be at the river clean-up. Wright was a part of the group that kickstarted the Lee County Rivers Alive clean-up group almost 20 years ago. 

“I grew up on the waterway back in the early ’80s, and I saw that pollution was kind of getting out of control, so to do something about it, we organized the group in Lee County,” Wright said.

Over the years, Wright has missed only one clean-up. He’s also watched the event grow in volunteer numbers and decline in the amount of trash picked up. 

“Speaking for Lee County, we used to have a trash barge float down the creek behind our kayaks to put the trash in,” he said. “There’s been a tremendous decrease.” 

Now that he no longer lives locally, Wright said he makes it a point to travel back for both the Lee and Dougherty county clean-ups. Over the years, he’s found trash but also treasure like arrowheads and vintage jewelry. 

He said he was encouraged by the young group that kayaked, Saturday. 

A group of about 12 volunteers made up of research associates and technicians at the Jones Center at Ichauway, an ecological research center in Baker County, and students from Albany State University’s Active Minds mental health group took part in the clean-up. The latter students spent their first day ever on a kayak helping to clean up trash.

Caitlin Sweeney, a Jones Center research associate, said it was her second time on the trip. The field scientists cleaned up trash, but also investigated and identified mussels, bugs and plant species as they paddled down the Flint. 

“We do ecological research, and we have multiple labs that work in water,” Sweeney said. “We love studying this region and care about keeping it trash-free and healthy.”