Lehigh River (29-June-2015)

Did not pick up a whole lot today. Just a little over a full bag of plastics and a handful of cans. I really could use a canoe for cleaning up around the river. Too many plastics on the shores and caught in strainers. (A strainer is an over hang on the water, generally a tree branch, but could be any object that acts as a catch allowing water to pass through but not other objects) From the shore I can't really do much about the trash caught in strainers. 

This area I have cleaned up multiple times before and will probably clean up many times in the future. It is on the edge of an eddy in which a lot of trash gets trapped and eventually deposited on the shore.

I have found way too many batteries this year. This one was in the river.

I did not see what had Penny's interest until I removed the one beer can. It was a diaper, a wonderful used diaper. I have made it clear in past posts that diapers are one item I will never pick up. Why people think it is acceptable to put trash in anything that slightly resembles a garbage can I will never understand. It seems lots of people used this to get rid of their waste and it is close enough to the rivers edge that at high water all will be washed down stream. I did remove the plastics and aluminum. Shoes, paper products and soiled diaper were left behind. I really do not like leaving things behind, but I do need someplace to go with it before I take it.

Trash is not the main issue in this photo. Relatively recently someone decided that this would be a perfect campsite. They cut down multiple trees and most of the cuttings still had green leaves on them. Very close to this site are other places where there are already clear views to the water and there are already fire pits. But, whoever did this decided it was a better place and never mind the trees. The problem is that trees on river and stream banks serve two important purposes. The root systems help to hold in place the soil on the bank and can act as a filter to water entering the stream or river at that point. Cutting trees on river and stream, banks just isn't cool, especially when there are better options very close by.

This is where good intentions go bad. Just above this area is the parking lot. About a year ago someone put an empty recycling bin next to the larger tree in the upper right corner of this photo. It filled up and was never emptied. Then someone or possibly some animal came along and pushed the bin over the edge. So, if you ever decide that an area needs a trash receptacle, please don't put one their unless you have a plan to maintain it.

This used to be attached to the tree that had the recycling bin in it. The organization on the sticker used to put cards in it for fishermen to report their trout catches. At some point they stopped adding new cards and the box ended up on the ground. Now it will be going to a recycling center.

Some of my posts may seem repetitive. I even think so. Really I am finding the same stuff over and over again. The past couple clean ups I haven't even found any really fun items. I am going to try to get out more and hopefully I will find some good stuff that is a little different. Generally by the river you can find some odd items so I will be doing more shore clean ups in the near future.