by Lois Liberman and Paul Heckbert

What is River Sweep 2009?

June 20, 2009 marked the annual River Sweep day spearheaded by Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission (ORSANCO) along 3,000 miles of riverbanks. Organized locally by Steel Valley Trail Council members Lois Liberman, Andy Munster and Paul Heckbert, and the Squirrel Hill Urban Coalition, we welcomed the opportunity to remove dumped trash along a magnificent wooded urban trail along Duck Hollow’s North Bank Monongahela River neighborhood located in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania’s Squirrel Hill community.

Trio heaving a mud-drenched rug (photo: V. Landa)

What and where was the Mon’s flotsam and jetsam? Duck Hollow was one of many clean up sites equipped with a dumpster that was painstakingly filled, via vehicle shuttles, with rugs, paint cans both empty and full, tables, mirrors, baby automobile carriers, enough auto parts to build a car, a refrigerator and thirty-eight tires. All volunteers were rewarded with a commemorative Sweep T shirt—appropriately displaying a duck.

Transporting trash in a handy wagon (photo: L Liberman)

Why is this area special? Approximately six years ago City of Pittsburgh’s Mayor Tom Murphy built a 1.5 mile bike and pedestrian trail along an unspoiled stretch of the north bank of Monongahela from the Glenwood Bridge to Duck Hollow. The remaining 2.25 miles of wooded shoreline to the Rankin Bridge has not been completed despite its informal use by bikers, pedestrians, fishermen and canoeists. Completing the Mon’s 3.7 mile North Bank trail and bridge crossings would give thousands of individuals future access to the Great Allegheny Passage (GAP) trail. The GAP trail will be completed soon, yielding a continuous trail from downtown Pittsburgh to Washington, DC.

Who are the trash-talking partners? Forty plus volunteers donated their time, brawn, and transport vehicles to haul trash, located a half mile away, to the dumpster situated in Duck Hollow. Volunteers were residents from neighboring communities as well as 33 volunteers from Babst, Calland, Clements and Zomnir, P.C. (BCCZ), which isnationally recognized for its environmental regulatory law practice.

All taking a welcomed pause at the dumpster (Photo: L. Liberman)

Refrigerator has been dragged and trucked out of the woods (Photo: L. Liberman)

Attentive volunteers reviewing trash location maps (Photo: L. Liberman)

As in past years, the Sweep’s success was supported, planned, executed and assisted by other long-standing trash partners from the City of Pittsburgh, Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), and hundreds of other individuals who contributed to make this River Sweep 2009 a success.