Nashwaak River #56
September 30, 2009
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I have decided to embrace a cause that makes me feel good. I believe that rivers can be tire-free.
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One fall day some summers ago, I paddled my home river where the Nashwaak meets the Saint John. I was struck by the carpets of tires that covered the river bottoms and littered the shores. The black tires were painfully visible, infesting the sandbars after two weeks with no rain.
I took my first tire out of the Nashwaak that day. Several dozen extractions later, I'm still at it. But I feel good now when I glide over a gravel bar and see no more tires in its grip.
I have friends who remove tires as well, and more rivers are visited by us and relieved of tires each year. Now, several stretches of the Nashwaak, Bouctouche, Keswick and Saint John Rivers are tire-free, and the Nashwaaksis and Regiment Streams as well. In the United States, tires have been removed from the Merrimack River in New Hampshire.
Some of you may live in jurisdictions where the government will hand over money for volunteer clean-ups, and you have the time and energy to organize and pull it off. That’s great. Go for it.
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Others may not have the opportunity to participate in a large-scale state-financed tire clean-up. But you still care. You're willing to remove them from your local stream, even if it’s just one tire at a time.
If so, this site’s for you.
Send in a picture of yourself with the tire(s) you have removed, and sent for proper waste management, to me at Tire-Free Rivers Central. Include your name (or fictitious handle), the date it was removed, and the name of the river and the state/province/country the river runs through. A little story is welcome. Click here to see the up-to-date list of tires already removed.
I’ll post it here, and your picture will appear on the front page as the most recently removed until someone else sends in their picture. You can gain the recognition you deserve as a steward of your local river. I will not post your e-mail address, or give it to anyone else.
Then it gets added to the Gallery. Nothing more.
Next time you see a tire in your home river within your reach, join the cause. Give back.
For your enjoyment, I have uploaded unique images on every page of the Gallery, showing the rivers that are going tire-free. For example, click here to see pictures of the Saint John.
2007 Annual Report
2008 Annual Report
Tire-Free Rivers is a non-profit volunteer crusade. Tire-Free Rivers is not affiliated with anything else. Nobody makes any money doing this.
