Fourth Annual Great Suwannee River Cleanup

Summer 2013
Cleaning North Florida waterways for 20 years.
INSIDE:
►Director’s Message, p. 2
►Marine Debris Study, p. 2
►Florida Friendly Yards, p. 4
►Hogtown Creek Cleanup, p. 5
►YELS Summer Camp, p. 5
A BIG THANK YOU TO:
Major Supporters...
►Alachua County Department of
Environmental Protection
►Columbia County
►Gainesville Clean Water
Partnership
►Hagen Family Foundation
Supporting Partners…
►Adventure Outpost
►American Rivers
►Amigos Dive Center
►Blue Springs Park
►Bronson Hardware
►Cave Country
►Cave Diving Section of the NSS
►Central Florida Electric
►Central Florida Electric
►Coin & Jewelry Gallery
►The Corbitt Family
►Extreme Exposure
►Fine, Farkash, &Parlapiano Law
►Great Outdoors Restaurant
►High Springs First Presbyterian
Church
►Hunter Printing
►Ichetucknee Family Campground
►Karst Environmental Service
►Karst Productions
►The Kossman Foundation
►Nestle Waters
►Ocean Conservancy
►Progress Energy
►Santa Fe Canoe Outpost
►Save Our Suwannee
►Suwannee County Tourism &
Development Council
►Visit Gainesville
►1-800-GOT-JUNK
Fourth Annual Great Suwannee River Cleanup
Efforts to Encompass Entire Basin This Year
The Great Suwannee River Cleanup is going basin-wide this year! We hope you will join us
for the Fourth Annual Great Suwannee River Cleanup. This year we want to encourage everyone to work on the Suwannee or any other river in the basin -- the Withlacoochee, Santa Fe,
Ichetucknee, or even Alapaha. We will focus on trash "hot spots" this year, which you can
help us identify. If you know of a place that needs some serious attention, please let us know
about it, or better yet, sign up for it yourself! However, please feel free to choose a section
anywhere to your liking. Our role will continue to be coordinating registration, helping with
publicity, providing supplies, and tracking progress, just like we have the last three years.
As in the past, the project will consist of many small cleanups all along the rivers during a
three-month window from September through November. If a few need to happen in late
August or early December, that’s fine, too. Last year, Tropical Storm Debby demanded many
people's time and attention. If you were among those who suffered from flooding, we hope
you have recovered and will be back with us this year.
We also hope to have several small dive cleanups at targeted hot spots. The dive cleanups
need volunteers for land support (bag, sort, and weigh trash) and boat support (offload divers,
accompany divers for safety). Divers must be cave certified. This is a very strict rule of ours
to eliminate potential safety problems.
Except for the Ichetucknee, we have designated
the sections of the rivers by mile post. You must
sign up for one or more of these sections as
designated. This prevents overlaps and confusion
among individual groups and their cleanups. You
may also sign up for one of the hot spots as we
identify them or one that you know of needing
work. These could be islands in a river, ramps,
bridges, spring runs or other places that have accumulated a lot of trash. We have a map that
shows which sections have been adopted. To view
the map, go to http://goo.gl/maps/qYlo.
Help us spread the word! We want as many
local groups of people out on the rivers working
as possible. Feel free to copy this article and
forward it as an e-mail to anyone you think might
be interested. We are also looking for sponsors to
cover the cost of supplies and other expenses. It
takes a lot of money to conduct the event. Perhaps
this is how you can be part of the cleanup. Or
maybe you could offer to bring your power boat
or a trailer full of canoes to help out.
[continued on page 3]
Reflections from the Water
Fritzi Olson, Executive Director
Summer is about over and finds us gearing up for the Great Suwannee River Cleanup, which has
turned into a Suwannee River Basin cleanup since we made the decision to include all the tributary
rivers this year. So this time around you can register for your favorite section of the Suwannee or
choose a section of the Ichetucknee, Santa Fe, Withlacoochee, or Alapaha. We hope you’ll join us
this year. Read the article in this issue if you are interested in participating in some manner.
The Hogtown Creek Cleanup was a most successful event. Cleanups were held in March and April with the first being at the new
headwaters city park. 5,325 pounds of trash were removed from the creek by Current Problems volunteers. Then in July the Young
Entrepreneurs for Leadership Program (YELS) at UF were able to do more work in the Loblolly floodplain and behind Creekside
Mall. YELS removed another 813 pounds. See more details on these two events on page 5.
Spring was filled with many cleanups that were a part of the Great American Cleanup. We are happy each year to contribute to
this event by scheduling cleanups for the waterways.
Living Oceans Society in British Columbia has started a Clear the Coast program. I know a number of the staff of this fine
organization and have visited them when in Sointula where their office is located. They know about our Great Suwannee River
Cleanup, too. When I congratulated Will Soltau, coordinator of Clear the Coast, he said we were the inspiration! How about that?
They’ve done a great job at cleaning places difficult to get to. Check out their website at www.livingoceans.org. Good folks.
A heads-up for the Newnans Lake Cleanup scheduled for September 28. Gainesville Area Rowing is partnering with us again on
this cleanup. We will work along Lakeshore Drive, at the two boat ramp parks, at outgoing Prairie Creek and at the tributary creeks.
We always need lots of volunteers for this event. Plan to participate as an individual or as part of a group assigned to one of the
sites. If you are interested in working out on the lake in a power boat or air boat, we welcome you, too.
New Study: New Worries About Marine Debris
Reprinted from Coastal Conservation Network Blog, August 2, 2013
It’s well known that marine debris is an ongoing global environmental
disaster, in no small part due to the ability of floating debris to transport
invasive species long distances. A new study shows that the biggest
worries may come from the smallest debris.
A study, entitled “Life in the Plastisphere: Microbial Communities on
Plastic Marine Debris,” was just published in the journal Environmental
Science and Technology, describing the surprisingly rich mini-ecosystem
of microbes that can accumulate and travel on very tiny pieces of plastic
in the ocean.
The researchers say “We unveiled a diverse microbial community of heterotrophs, autotrophs, predators, and symbionts, a
community we refer to as the ‘plastisphere.’ Plastisphere communities are distinct from surrounding surface water, implying that
plastic serves as a novel ecological habitat in the open ocean.” Or, as the L.A. Times describes it in slightly more understandable
terms:
These unique menageries, which arose on plastic debris introduced to the world’s ocean over the last six decades, make up
extensive food chains of bacteria and single-celled animals that produce their own food, bacteria that feed on their waste products
and predators that feed on all of them.
[continued on page 3]
2
Suwannee Basin Cleanup
[Continued from page 1]
If your group would like to register for one or more sections of the rivers
(from one boat ramp to the next or a bridge), please register online at: http://
tinyurl.com/k9p675o It’s extremely simple. Just fill in the boxes below the
text, hit “submit” and you’re all set. Repeat for another section, if you are
taking more than one. You may also view a spreadsheet to see what sections
are taken and who to contact if you would like to join in that particular cleanup. The spreadsheet link is http://tinyurl.com/o7mct4u.
We will let each local group decide how best to run their respective cleanup. Use canoes, kayaks, power boats, airboats or a combination of some sort.
You know what will work best for you on your section of the river. Recruit a
bunch of volunteers, tell us your choice of date, and coordinate your trash
disposal, whether you get a dumpster to use or haul it off to your nearest
collection center. For any aspect of the cleanup, we will be happy to provide
guidance as needed. Give me a call and I will do my best to help. And please
let us know if you would like to borrow any of our supplies, such as buckets,
grabbers, or scales. We will also have plenty of bags to provide for all cleanups.
Each cleanup group will weigh the trash collected from their section of the
river and then report the figure to Current Problems. We will also need to
know the number of volunteers who participated and how many hours your
group worked. We will keep a record of your achievements, and our totals
will eventually be included in the International Coastal Cleanup and National
River Cleanup totals as well. Photos are always appreciated, too.
We will have a Kick-off Cleanup on Saturday, September 21, at the Ivey Memorial Park in Branford. There will be food for all
who help. The cleanup will start at 9:00 a.m. Please let me know if you would like to help out with this cleanup.
Should you wish to discuss the Great Suwannee River Cleanup further, or if you have any questions at all, please call me at 352-2646827 or e-mail aar@currentproblems.org. I hope to hear from you! We are looking forward to another very successful cleanup event
with a large number of the Suwannee River Basin’s residents participating.
Marine Debris
Save the Date!
[continued from page 2]
Of particular concern was a sample of polypropylene — about the
size of the head of a pin — dominated by members of the genus vibrio,
which includes bacteria that cause cholera and gastrointestinal ailments.
Since plastic debris persists far longer than biodegradable flotsam
such as feathers and wood, dangerous pathogens could travel long
distances by attaching themselves to plastic rafts of debris tinier than
salt grains.
Yes, in a nightmarish marine version of Horton Hears A Who, these
tiny specs of plastic debris can carry entire communities of nasty microbes very long distances. An invasive is an invasive, no matter how
small.
Our annual Newnan’s Lake Cleanup is on
Saturday, September 28th.
Individual and group volunteers are welcomed!
For more details, contact Current Problems at
352-264-6827 or aar@currentproblems.org.
3
Diary of a Florida Friendly Yard Enthusiast
by Staci Rosbury Cleveland, Brevard County Resident
Two years ago, a friend of mine told me about the Florida
Statute which requires Home Owners Associations to allow
residents to plant Florida-Friendly yards. Many HOAs are
resisting such changes and choosing to take people to court for
violating their covenants rather than re-writing them to comply
with the law.
went straight to threatening us. They assumed we would be as
difficult and confrontational as possible since we did not apply to
make the changes to our yard and because I had uttered the
words “Florida-Friendly” and quoted a statute at them two years
ago. We attended a board meeting where we made it known that
we were not interested in causing trouble, but we want to make
some changes and save some water, and contribute to helping our
I wanted to do my part, so I wrote to my HOA and informed environment.
them of the new law and
volunteered to help re-write our
covenant to make it compliant with the Florida
Now we are jumping through their hoops and
statute. This seemed like a reasonable approach,
making nice with the Architectural Review
since our covenant was obviously out of line.
Committee (ARC) members. Some people in
My intention was to help set it up properly, so I
the neighborhood have been vocal about their
could then make the changes I wanted to make
distaste for the changes we have made and have
without getting threatened or taken to court. I
complained, but at a recent ARC meeting, they
never heard back from the board about my
approved all the changes we have made already
proposal, and this issue sat on the back burner for
and everything that we propose to do in the near
a while as I attended to my busy life.
future. That would include adding another stone
path and
planting a bed of all Florida native
Recently I learned I could get free mulch from
plants in the front yard. They seemed very
the city dump. I decided to try it out and expand
reasonable at the meeting and told me to just
all of my beds, which is a good first step when
submit whatever else we wanted to do in the
reducing the amount of turf present in the yard. I
future so that if anyone complains they can say
also mulched the sodded area between the
that they have already evaluated it and we are
sidewalk and the roadway at the front of our
approved.
property. I read over the covenant before I did
this. The way I read it, the only specific requirement in this area I was pleased with this decision, but disappointed they do not
was on the height of the plants (they had to be low). Later on my see their clear responsibility to become educated about the
husband and I laid a path of porous pavers and sand from the Florida-Friendly Statute and change our neighborhood covenant.
road to the sidewalk and added several drought tolerant plants. It I suppose that will have to be a more long term objective. Plus,
looks great, but it is very different from what the rest of our we have not officially been let off the hook yet with the HOA
neighbors have.
and their lawyer. We are waiting to hear from them. In the
meanwhile, I’m heading back out to the garden to plant some
Shortly thereafter, we received a letter from our HOA’s lawyer. Florida natives.
They skipped all the steps they are supposed to take first and
Green turtles swallowing more plastic than ever before, study finds
Reprinted from the guardian.com, August 8, 2013
Green turtles are swallowing plastic at twice the rate they did 25 years ago, according to a new study. The finding is based on data
collected across the globe since the late 1980s and analyzed by researchers at the University of Queensland.
Study leader and PhD candidate Qamar Schuyler says green and leatherback turtles are eating more plastic than ever before and
more than any other form of debris. The ages of turtles and their habitats are also factors. "Our research revealed that young oceangoing turtles were more likely to eat plastic than their older, coastal-dwelling relatives," Schuyler said on Friday. Amazingly,
stranded turtles found adjacent to heavily populated New York City showed little or no evidence of debris ingestion. But all stranded
turtles found near an undeveloped area of southern Brazil had eaten debris, Schuyler said.
"This means conducting coastal clean-ups is not the single answer to the problem of debris ingestion for local sea turtle populations," she added. But she said it was an important step in preventing marine debris input into the ocean. Schuyler said an estimated
80% of debris comes from land-based sources. That fact showed how critical it was to manage man-made debris at every point,
from its manufacture to the point of a product's consumption.
4
Inaugural Hogtown Creek Cleanup Nets
Over 5,000 Pounds of Trash
Our Hogtown Creek Cleanup this spring was quite
a success! We started at the city’s new Headwaters
Park on NW 45th Avenue, cleaning up 862 pounds
of trash and pulling 564 pounds of coral ardisia
plants. Tom Morris, a biologist and cave diver, and
Chris Bird, Director of the Alachua County
Environmental Protection Department, talked to the
group about Hogtown Creek and its importance to
our water supply. After the work was done, we served all volunteers lunch to cap off the day.
A number of cleanups conducted by various groups followed along the creek. Quite a few people
worked in the Loblolly flood plain during the Great American Cleanup. We had a cleanup behind
Lowe’s that netted over 3,200 pounds. What a haul! Our last cleanup was held at Forest Park on
SW 20th Avenue. This was another very productive effort, collecting 557 pounds. Following the
Forest Park cleanup, Stephanie Haas invited everyone over to her home, which overlooks Haile
Sink, for lunch. This was an unexpected treat. Since the
Sink is privately owned, there are few opportunities to see
it. All of Hogtown Creek and its many tributaries drain
into the aquifer at Haile Sink.
Young Entrepreneurs for Leadership & Sustainability
Once again Current Problems had the opportunity to partner with the UF summer program
known as YELS: Young Entrepreneurs for Leadership & Sustainability. This year, 40 high school
student volunteers worked at the Loblolly floodplain and behind Creekside Mall in Gainesville.
They showed up with great attitudes and energy! Together the students removed over 800 pounds
of trash.
We feel this is an important partnership for us because most of these kids are urban high school
students who have had limited exposure to nature and the environmental problems that exist today.
Today’s high school students are tomorrow’s voters!
5
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