A section of the Shuswap River is a little cleaner.
Thirteen people participated in the fifth annual River Cleanup Paddle Event organized by Charles Ruechel, of Elements Adventure.
“Discarded tubes, wooden tables, plastics of all sorts, cigarette butts and even an old car seat were retrieved,” he said.
Starting in Cherryville at 10 a.m., it took the paddlers until 5 p.m. to clean more than 30 kilometres of river.
“By the time they arrived at Shuswap Falls, they had hundreds of pounds of garbage, a whole truckload in fact,” said Ruechel.
“What was different this year, is that we partnered with the Mabel Lake Community Club, which did promotion for us and set up some hot food and drinks for us at the end of the day and even took it upon themselves to dispose of the garbage.”
Rita Romei, club president, says the event fit in with the new mandate of the board which is to be stewards of the Mabel Lake Valley.
“More and more people realize the important role the Shuswap River plays in this community and feel we need to be pro-active in protecting it,” she said.
“The club has plans to make this annual event something where families can come to the river for an afternoon to learn about and experience the river environment.”