Northwest Paddling » Down the river cleanup

Ripple Effect Rescheduled!

Rod — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 22:15:43 +0000

RIPPLE Effect was to take place this Saturday 10/24 during the 350.org Climate Action day-long event. However, the economic downturn has claimed another victim. Our venue went out of business! We’ll still be holding the Salvage Art Auction though!

New Date: November 7th

Venue: Tupelo Alley, 3850 N. Mississippi 97227 www.tupeloalley.com

Time: TBD

Be Affected by the Ripple Effect

Rod — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 19:53:32 +0000

If you were part of the Down the River Cleanup on the Clackamas River September 13th, you saw a whole lotta weird trash being hauled out. We even awarded prizes for some of it:

Heaviest: 4-Cylinder Engine Block

Longest: 40-ft pipe

Cutest: Teddy Bear

Most Unique: Message in a Bottle

But there was a LOT more, and in the tradition of Reduce-Reuse-Recycle we enlisted local Portland, Oregon artist Jenn Reilly and 17 of her peers to come out and collect stuff we hauled out, pick out the best stuff and turn it into salvage art. It’ll be unveiled at an artistic extravaganza called RIPPLE EFFECT.

They have toiled, sweated and worked their creative souls to the bone since then, and the fruits of their collective effort will be displayed October 24th during Ripple Effect, at Roof Top Studios, NW 13th & Burnside, 4:00 – 9:00 p.m. Come and bid on the pieces! All proceeds benefit We Love Clean Rivers, Inc. If you’re downtown for 350.org’s River of Action and International Day of Climate Action you’ll want to check out Ripple Effect as well!

Questions: Contact Jenn Reilly 503.875.7841

Give Back to Mother Clackamas September 13th

Rod — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 14:08:29 +0000

Remember, September 13th NRG Kayaking presents the 7th annual Down the River Cleanup on the Clackamas! If you’ve learned whitewater kayaking on our local river, now’s the time to give back!

Join 300 other river lovers in scouring 14 miles of the river from Barton Park to the mouth. Take part in a “pod” of kayakers, rafters and divers cleaning a section of river. You will be rewarded with a barbeque and music when it’s done! And, you can win prizes for most trash collected, weirdest trash, etc.! There’s going to be a raffle and silent auction so you can leave the event with some quality equipment in hand!

Check out our fabulous sponsors:

KEEN Footwear

Whitewater Designs

Next Adventure

SOTAR

MARAVIA

Alder Creek Kayak & Canoe

Columbia Sportswear

Oregon Lottery

Werner Paddles

MTI Adventurewear

PALM USA

Mountain Hardwear

Ruff Wear

AIRE

LaFuma

Sckavone’s Restaurant

NRS

Mt Hood Territory

Smith Optics

Benchmade Knives

Osprey Backpacks

Gregory Backpacks

Mountainsmith

Daybreak Massage

Grand Central Baking

And MORE!

Hope to see you out there!

Clackamas “Down the River Cleanup” 9/13 – Registration is OPEN!

Rod — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 14:00:10 +0000

Register NOW for the seventh running of the Clackamas Down the River Cleanup! You can take part in this amazing cleanup of 13-miles of the lower Clackamas from Barton Park to its confluence with the Willamette at Clackamette Park! You and 300 other volunteers will join one of several pods scouring the river. Each pod consists of rafts, kayaks, and divers. At the end of the day you’ll board a Raz Transportation coach for shuttle back to Barton Park – we’ll feed you a barbeque, you’ll enjoy fine music and you can also bid to buy some really cool outdoor gear and other assorted items! What better way to spend a September afternoon.

Down the River Cleanup 2009 News!

Rod — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:30:00 +0000

Northwest River Guides is teaming up with Next Adventure and the Clackamas River Basin Council in presenting the 7th annual Clackamas Down the River Cleanup! On September 13th some 300 kayakers, rafters, canoeists and river enthusiasts join forces to scour 13 miles of the river!

Since its inception this annual event has removed some 31,400 lbs of trash. The event mobilizes river enthusiasts, scuba divers, businesses and residents from the watershed and youth to give back to the community and to get first-hand experience with the impact of careless use of public waterways. We clean the section from Barton Park to where the Clackamas connects with the Willamette River. Kayaking, rafting, drift boating and inner tubing are popular along this stretch during the summer months. But careless use and outright dumping marred the enjoyment, as well as the habitat for wildlife. We have removed tires, wheels, structural steel, furniture and more.

The BIG news is that this year our organization is now the non-profit We Love Clean Rivers! Plans call for duplicating our efforts on other rivers!

We invite your participation in this river stewardship event! Starting in early August you can sign up at www.welovecleanrivers.org . On the day of the event, there will also be music, a barbeque, a silent auction and raffle! Call 503-772-1122 for more information.

Down The River Cleanup Art Show! Success!

Sam Drevo — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 02:27:15 +0000

I have to share this amazing evening from right before Halloween. Jennifer Riley from hippyads.com took the bull by the horns, and created a artist challenge at the 2008 Down the River Cleanup (DRC). She organized 6 artists to create artwork from the 2008 DRC and then teamed up with the Green Source, and Bright Neighbor to host a party, and art show.

This event was the Thursday before Halloween, and was a blowout success. Almost 90% of all the artwork was sold, and Riley helped raise about $1000 for the River Cleanup Artshow effort. Here are some of the art pieces that these wizards turned from trash to art.

This is the story.

Here is some of the incredible art.

These two are Jen Riley’s pieces.

At my guess I would say there were probably 300-400 people that filtered through during the night.

Here are some of the other Art pieces.

This art is made up of cigarette box tin foil. Pretty ingenious art.

Thanks for everyone that supported this event including hippyads.com, and brightneighbor.com

Portland Green Giant Awards!

Sam Drevo — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 04:06:18 +0000

This year has been an incredible one for accolades. The Portland Tribune sustainable life Magazine identified and awarded about 10 individuals to honor leadership and excellence in sustainability in the Portland community. It was part of the Go Green Initiative that the city of Portland’s mayor Sam Adams has been advocating over the last year. The ceremony was at the Gerding Theater in the Pearl, and I have to admit it was pretty cool to be included in this exclusive group. It is cool to represent the paddling community with this initiative- b/c it really has had a pretty amazing impact. 31,000 lbs of trash pulled out of the river in 5 – one day efforts… a recycling, composting, community event in all ways… The Down the River Cleanup Art show put on by Riley was a huge success! Our college tour the previous fall was also a huge success, had many “green” elements. All these initiatives played into the committees decision to bestow the award to eNRG kayaking.

Kristin Dahl here on the right has been the major force behind the DRC since its inception and has been eNRG Kayaking’s sustainability consultant from the beginning. She is my “Green Giant”.

And Randy White from BrightNeighbor.com is the real sustainability visionary, and another one of my personal Green Giants. His revolutionary software is going to do a lot to bring communities together into the future… ride sharing, food cultivating, and energy conservation. You gotta check out his site- brightneighbor.com