2024 StreamSweepers Campaign
Restoring people and nature, one river at a time.
After two years of planning and assessment in 2017 and 2018, we dramatically expanded our impact with the start of the Appalachian Rivers Cleanup Campaign in 2019. We began cleanup on the Clinch River in Southwest Virginia, working closely with many federal, state, and local agencies and organizations to ensure that we were not disturbing the threatened and endangered species therein. From our two years of assessment, we knew that there are roughly 10,000 tires and countless other waste in its bed and banks. As of 2023, we have cleaned over 60 river miles, removed and delivered over 7,800 tires to recycling centers, and cleared more than 89 tons of trash and debris from one of the most ecologically diverse rivers in the nation.
Looking toward 2024, our project manager on the Clinch River thinks we can finish the last section of the Clinch River, in Tazewell County, and move on to an assessment of the Powell River. We also plan to start an assessment of tributaries of the Big Sandy River, with a consortium of stakeholders in SW Virginia, Eastern Kentucky, and SE West Virginia. Up in Madison, Orange, and Culpeper Counties, we are planning to finish a maintenance sweep of the Rapidan River.