Inland Sea Kayakers: April 20, Earth Day Cleanup

April 20th Earth Day Cleanup
It was unbelievable!!! Twenty-three ISKers showed up on a colder than usual April morning for the Earth Day Cleanup. ISK joined in with the Minneapolis Parks Department's annual Watershed cleanup. They provided us with free parking, rubber gloves and plastic trash bags...and we provided the water cleanup. REI donated t-shirts for us too! The Twin Cities has just completed one of those "typical" Minnesota weeks that seems to encompass both summer and winter. We sweated through 90 degree temps....followed by this winter-like drop into the 30s...where it was this Saturday morning (and tomorrow's forecast is for snow).

It was great to see the club out in force. The skies were clear and moods were high. We split up into four groups and cleaned up different sections of the chain of lakes, from Brownie, through Cedar, down into Lake of the Isles, and into the lagoon into Calhoun. It was a bit too much territory to cover.

Ah, but there were some interesting finds. Chad found a large orange road construction cone. I believe that has found a new home. Ralph found a uncooked turkey. And Joe found a pair of snazzy sun glasses, which apparently have a new home too.

There were some surprises. One of them was the enormous number of cigarette butts and filters floating in the water, in particular around the bird refuge islands on Lake of the Isles and in the Lagoon. We were also concerned by the tangled fishing lines running from trees into the water around those nesting areas. We spent some time cutting the lines down and pulling hooks up from the lake bottom. We could have spent far more time cleaning up than we did, and hopefully next year, we'll make a full day project out of it.

Thanks to all who came and helped out. And thanks to the city and REI for supporting our endeavor!