PAST NEWSLETTERS
May 2005
January 2005
September 2004
August 2006
2006 Accomplishments
2007 Accomplishments
2008 Accomplishments

CURRENT NEWSLETTER

Living Lands & Waters 2009 Accomplishments

River Cleanups- LL&W removed approximately 302 tons of debris with the help of over 3,830 volunteers at 62 community-based river cleanups.

Big River Educational Outreach- More than 6,035 educators and students attended LL&W-hosted Green Revolution conferences, on-the-river workshops and in-school presentations, learning about the importance of big river systems in the United States.

Riverbottom Restoration Projects- LL&W worked in 4 states with more than a dozen partners to plant nearly 20,000 trees and to remove invasive plants from an acre of land. 

MillionTrees Project- The crew gave away more than 85,000 oak and pecan trees to communities across 8 states. 

Adopt-A-River-Mile- The Adopt-A-Mississippi River Mile Program currently has 103 groups cleaning 250.1 river miles, and the new Adopt-An-Illinois River Mile Program is growing with 8 groups caring for 31 miles.

Year in Review

January- In addition to fundraising and making plans for upcoming projects and events, the crew was busy repairing equipment, building 2 new boat trailers and refurbishing another. 

February-The LL&W team hosted its first Green Revolution conference with 150 Quad City high school students spending an entire day learning about energy conservation and waste reduction.  The crew continued scheduling and preparing for the season ahead.

 March-  LL&W kicked off the river cleanup season by hosting its “Alternative Spring Break” program for college students.  The crew returned to Cedar Rapids, IA to utilize the energy and strength of college students as flood cleanups on the Cedar River continued.  Over the course of 3 weeks, 174 students from New York, Michigan, Missouri, Maine, Iowa, and Illinois collected 45 tons of debris.  Later in the month, the LL&W team with 170 volunteers prepared 50,000 of our first trees to give away as part of our MillionTrees Project.                  

April- Throughout the month of April, the crew delivered and helped plant 75,000 trees as part of LL&W’s MillionTrees Project.  They also hosted an on the river workshop and cleanup for the community of Cave-In-Rock, IL, situated on the Ohio River, and a large cleanup on the Mississippi in Quincy, IL.  On the 20th, Chad received one of his greatest honors to date. His alma mater, Heartland Community College, dedicated a section of its new Green Institute as “The Pregracke Center”, with interactive displays showcasing the work and projects of Heartlands’s first recipient of the “Distinguished Alumni” award.

May- The month began with 169 employees participating in the Third Annual Marine Industry River Cleanup Challenge, hosted by LL&W in Paducah, KY.  The crew, MidAmerican Energy employees and local students planted 9,300 trees in Solon, IA as a result of MidAmerican paperless billing sign up. From there it was back to the Wisconsin River to finish the work begun in 2008 when the levee at Lake Delton was breached, sending several homes and tons of debris down river.  After making a clean sweep of the Wisconsin, the crew boarded the barge and traveled down the Illinois River, hosting a series of cleanups along the way.  At the end of the month, LL&W hosted the Louisville “Xstream Cleanup”, similar to the very successful Quad Cities cleanup, on Kentucky waterways.

 June- The crew continued their travel down the Illinois River hosting cleanups as far as Naples, IL.  Two more trips to Cedar Rapids followed, with one setting an all-time record for the most debris removed during a single cleanup event.  With just 132 volunteers, this hardcore team was able to remove nearly 100,000 pounds of debris in just 3 hours—that’s 250 pounds per person per hour!!!!  The LL&W crew participated in the Iowa Department of Natural Resources’ Project AWARE program in Cedar Rapids that resulted in another 39 tons of debris removed from the Cedar River!

July- After a much needed break, the crew and 210 volunteers worked together to clean up the shorelines near  Starved Rock State Park in Utica, IL which was followed by cleanups on the Mississippi River between Quincy and Fulton, IL.
 
August –The crew returned to the Quad Cities to entertain 678 guests at LL&W’s annual barge party.  The following weekend, LL&W teamed up with the Waste Commission of Scott County and 1,602 volunteers for the Quad Cities’ Xstream Cleanup.  Along with DavenportOne, they spearheaded the first Mississippi River Ride, a motorcycle-ride fundraiser in conjunction with the River Roots Live Music Festival.  Two cleanups followed—the first in Colona, IL on the Rock River and the second in Dubuque, IA on the Mississippi.  Plans for an annual cleanup in Burlington, IA were cancelled due to high water.
 
September- The crew worked their way down the Ohio and Mid-Mississippi Rivers, hosting 8 cleanups before heading north to St. Louis.  While there, LL&W hosted a large annual cleanup and Green Revolution Conference, as well as took part in a LL&W fundraiser sponsored by the River Kids at the St. Louis City Museum.  The crew then traveled to St. Paul, MN for a cleanup on the Upper Mississippi.

October- October marked the peak of fall tree planting with 300 trees being planted in 2 local Quad City parks and 250 trees on Plum Island in Starved Rock State Park.  Green Revolution Conferences in St. Paul, MN; Peoria, IL; and Paducah, KY followed with almost 300 high school students attending.

November/December-For the first 2 weeks in November, the crew will plant 5,400 trees at 2 different sites along the Mississippi River in Wisconsin before heading to warmer waters for cleanups on the White River in Arkansas.  Final plans for the year are to travel to New Orleans to observe the building of the crew’s new house barge and headquarters!

Thank you for making this all possible!!