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Biyearly cleanup of Red Cedar reveals bikes and more

October 20, 2014

On the banks of the Red Cedar, there’s a lot of trash. And underwater, it’s even worse.

Members of the Fisheries and Wildlife Club woke up early on Sunday to clean the Red Cedar River, an emblematic feature in MSU’s campus, using different mechanisms to clean it. While some of the students paddled in canoes to get to the trash, others helped scuba divers pull the trash from the bottom of the river.

James Greiff, an MSU Scuba Club member and a mechanical engineering sophomore, said he participated in the cleanup because the pollution in the Red Cedar River affects everybody on campus.

In 15 minutes, Greiff recovered five bicycles that were in the waters of the Red Cedar River.

Besides bicycles, volunteers participating in the cleanup found street signs, trash bins, tires and parking meters.

All the materials collected would later be sent to the Surplus Store and Recycling Center, making the cleanup a zero-waste event.

Cleanup organizer and fisheries and wildlife management senior Anthony Beals said the cleanup helps beautify MSU’s campus, too.

“It’s pretty important because it not only helps enhance our campus’ image but it also helps influence what we have out here,” Beals said. “It’s very important to have something that we can be proud of on our campus.”

Fisheries and Wildlife Club President Becca Blundell participates every semester in the river cleanup. This is her seventh cleanup through her club.

“As a fisheries and wildlife major we understand the ecology of the river and how important it is to keep it clean,” Blundell said. “A lot of students don’t realize how diverse our river is, and a lot of people assumed that it is very polluted and it’s actually not.”

Besides the Fisheries and Wildlife Club, other organizations on campus gave support in the event, such as the MSU Scuba Club.

“Scuba divers — we can’t dive unless we have a a nice, clean environment,” Greiff said. “So anything we can do to help out right here on campus, we’ll do it.”

Greiff said there is no awareness about why students should not litter the river that runs through Fowlerville, Webberville, Williamston, Okemos, East Lansing and Lansing.

“The greatest tool against pollution is just awareness,” Greiff said. “Ignorance is what causes these things, so if people are aware of their actions we can make some recognition that if they pollute it’s not going to be a good thing."

Although the the cleanup helped by removing the tangible objects from the body of water, the river still has other pollutants in it that are affecting the ecology of it.

According to a 2012 Michigan Department of Environmental Quality report, parts of the Red Cedar River watershed had high levels of E. coli.

The MSU Residential Initiative on the Study of the Environment and MSU Culinary Services partnered with the Fisheries and Wildlife Club by donating food for volunteers to eat after the cleanup.

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