Snake River Clean Up Crew


Wyoming’s Bridger-Teton National Forest offers up nearly 3.5 million acres


of public land for outdoor recreation enjoyment, including 500 river miles from the Snake River headwaters. Explored first in the early 1800s, even rugged trappers found it challenging to boat, calling it “The Mad River.”


It’s a pristine beauty which still gets trashed over time by man’s carelessness and brings to mind poet Robert Frost’s words written nearly a hundred years ago: “I’m going out to clean the pasture spring; I’ll only stop to rake the leaves away (And wait to watch the water clear, I may): I shan’t be gone long. --- You come too.”


It’s a clean-up invitation extended every year by an amalgam of interested parties who band together as The Voice of the Snake River. The Snake River Fund was formed to avert a mandatory fee program proposed by the U.S. Forest Service. All fishing guides, whitewater riverboat companies, Bridger-Teton National Forest staff, and other interested parties in the area of Jackson, Wyoming, meet during National River Clean-up Week...and do just that -- - clean-up.


“It’s a partnership unique in this country that serves as a model to other river systems struggling with management challenges,” said Mary Bess, general manager of Mad River


Boat Trips. “The Snake River watershed is extraordinary, one of the few remaining intact riparian ecosystems in the United States, supporting a rare native fishery, undiluted by introduced or exotic species. The riparian corridor is a prime example of bio-diversity, a fragile place, worthy of protection. We’ve become the river steward through our restoration projects.”


Creeks and cutbanks, gulches and gullies, ramps and roads --- everything gets scouted and picked clean of roadside garbage and river trash from boaters. The Snake River Fund supplies breakfast for worker energy. The Wyoming Department of Transportation provides bags and trash pickup of items removed from canyons and roadsides. Local retail businesses and whitewater rafting firms supply raffle prizes for volunteers at the end of a day that’s capped off with a sparkling clean river and a party of burgers and beverages back at the Mad River Boathouse.


“This non-profit group has many visions,” said Marley Vaughn, Snake River Fund executive director.


“We want


to ensure the Snake River Watershed remains a vibrant and diverse ecosystem for many generations to come. We want everyone to enjoy its beauty in a responsible


manner


and we’ll work to insure that happens.”


Start your own creek or river clean-up event in your community. Visit Take Pride in America’s website for volunteer events in your state www.TakePride.gov


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