Tires, Fridges, Toys: Iowa Project AWARE Comes to Clean Up Rivers in Cerro Gordo, Floyd Counties

Iowa Project AWARE (A Watershed Awareness River Expedition) is bringing upwards of 300 volunteers together to help clean up rivers in north Iowa starting Monday (07.14).

Floyd County Conservation Naturalist Heidi Reams says this isn’t the first time Project Aware has targeted the area.

Reams adds that most of the debris removed during the cleanup efforts, which will cover over 60 miles combined between the two rivers, will get recycled.

Volunteers from Project AWARE are to arrive in Mason City’s East Park on Sunday (07.13) and set up a tent city in preparation for paddling. Participants will camp three days in East Park and then move to Floyd County.

In the 22 years since Iowa Project AWARE started, more than 6,400 volunteers have removed almost a million pounds of trash from almost 15-hundred miles of Iowa rivers, with 82% of all trash recycled. This year Iowa Project AWARE will celebrate its one-millionth pound of trash cleanup.

Event director Jenna Pfeiffer says volunteers have found some very interesting things in the state’s rivers over the years, from a freezer full of rotting meat, to porcelain dolls, fridges, farm equipment, lots of tires, even a bowling ball.