Annual Earth Day river clean up draws thousands

It was a glorious spring day, which always helps. Over 4,000 people came out to participate in the annual river clean up sponsored by Milwaukee Riverkeeper. Today's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has the complete story but I got around to a few sites before I settled in at Krueger Park, along Underwood Creek, where I mostly pulled garlic mustard and baby buckthorns. Here are some images.

Large contingents fanned out along both sides of the Milwaukee River near North Avenue.

Volunteers working among the sandbar willows next to the rushing narrows just north of Caesar's Pool.

A plastic bag flutters like a defiant banner in the upper branches of a tree while volunteers collect an enormous volume of trash below.

It took a lot of heft to remove this old, rusted tailgate from a remote part of Krueger Park in Brookfield.

Furniture was the item of the day in Underwood Parkway, near 115th St.

Wild Wauwatosa comes to Wauwatosa Patch

Dear fans of the urban wilderness: I have a new beat - although it overlaps with my old beat. I've been invited to write a weekly column for the new online news venue called Wauwatosa Patch. My column is called Wild Wauwatosa and I will be covering much of the same thematic territory in the more limited physical territory of Wauwatosa.

Recently completed outflow structure for the MMSD detention basins

So, if there's something happening out on the County Grounds...

Mating geese considering a nesting place at the Burleigh Triangle?

Or if I simply run across some curious phenomenon of nature in this urban setting, you will probably hear about it at Wild Wauwatosa. My latest post is about last weekend's river cleanup, organized by Milwaukee Riverkeeper.

A painting found in Underwood Creek has ironic poignancy

I invite you to check out Wild Wauwatosa by clicking this link.

Cleaning the Menomonee River in Solitude

Down in the “canyon” of the Menomonee all is still, quiet, and suddenly warm. The warmth is a combination of bright, almost liquid sunshine and the peaceful feeling that the stillness brings. I shouldn’t be surprised, with all my previous experiences in this very place. Nevertheless, I am surprised -- and charmed all over again.

The low, distant murmur of traffic doesn’t disturb the mood. The occasional jet overhead is but a brief interruption. Only one tiny detail mars my reverie. A plastic grocery bag, caught high in tree branches above the rim of the bluff, where a steady wind whips it fiercely, snaps like a flag. Unfortunately a fitting symbol, it reminds me of my purpose.


This time I haven’t come to the river for my normal dose of urban wilderness. Earth Day is upon us and I am here to clean the river. The annual River Clean Up, sponsored by Milwaukee Riverkeeper, Menomonee Valley Partners and others, has brought hundreds (perhaps more) to many parts of the watershed to help.

I’ve attended each of the last ten such clean ups, but this is the first time I’ve found myself alone with the river –and the trash! Sadly, there is plenty for me to collect, as per usual after the spring thaw has revealed the detritus left from wintry months and runoff.


But could there be a more fitting moment for me to inaugurate a new Urban Wilderness blog? Here I am, at peace once again with the river and helping to clean it at the same time.