U.S. Forest Service officials in the Cherokee National Forest are calling for outdoor enthusiasts and nature lovers to unite Saturday for the annual cleanup event on the Tellico River in Monroe County, Tennessee.
Last year, 150 people participated and collected half a ton - about 1,000 pounds - of litter and trash along the Tellico River, North River and Citico Creek, agency representative and organizer Mary Jane Burnette said this week.
"This is always a fun and rewarding event," said Burnette, who started the event in 1995 with 30 or so volunteers.
Participation has waxed and waned over the last quarter century, often because of inclement weather, she said, but the event averages about 150 participants who collect between 1,000 and 2,000 pounds of trash each year.
"We've been regular participants since the year 2000. We haven't missed a year," said Steve Fry, avid angler, conservationist and local chapter president of Trout Unlimited, one of the event sponsors. Trout Unlimited members usually make up 25-30 of the volunteers for the event, he said.
Volunteers for the event usually are a mix of first-timers and people who do it every year, Fry said.
Drive-thru registration on Saturday will begin at 8 a.m. at the Tellico Ranger Station in Monroe County. Burnette said forest service officials will register people while they stay in their vehicles. Participants are asked to wear masks when interacting with others and to follow social distancing guidelines.
The Tellico River - known best for its trout fishing - is 53 miles long and surrounded by 30,000 acres of remote backcountry that encompass the Tellico River, North River and tributaries, according to the forest service and the U.S. Geological Survey. The river, which also draws whitewater enthusiasts when the water levels are high enough, flows west out of Cherokee County, North Carolina, into Monroe County, Tennessee, where it joins the Little Tennessee River near the town of Vonore. The system is stocked with trout several times a year.
Fry's conservation work is related to cold water fisheries of the Appalachians like the trout streams and rivers of the Cherokee National Forest, and he said the annual removal of trash helps preserve the habitat for fish and improves fishing for anglers.
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Recognizing volunteers' dedication, Fry and Burnette both recalled a year a while back when volunteers had to kick new-fallen snow out of the way to find the trash, they said.
Burnette said the event was largest in the mid-1990s when an off-highway vehicles group in North Carolina timed its cleanup event in the adjoining Nantahala National Forest at the same time, nearly doubling the number of participants prowling for trash in the federal forests on either side of the state line.
Burnette said she wasn't sure the flood of people fleeing 2020's COVID-19 restrictions for the outdoors had a negative impact on the amount of litter in the area.
"We have some people who actually pick up throughout the year, so it's hard to gauge it," she said.
A year with lots of rain raises the Tellico River, leaving behind a lot of trash along the banks, she said. While that's an unsightly scene, there's more trash to pick up and it's easier for volunteers to reach.
Fry said it was also a good idea for volunteers wear bright colors to be more visible to motorists when working near the road.
The forest service, Tennessee Valley Association, Trout Unlimited, Chattanooga Trout Association, Keep Monroe Beautiful, Indian Boundary General Store, Starr Mountain Outfitters and the Tellico Outfitters are supporters of the event, according to organizers.
Contact Ben Benton at bbenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6569. Follow him on Twitter @BenBenton or at www.facebook.com/benbenton1.