The Red Cedar and Grand rivers will be so fresh and so clean after Saturday.
The MSU Sportfishing Club, the Mid-Michigan Environmental Action Council and the Lansing Board of Water and Light, 1232 Haco Drive in Lansing, are inviting residents to help clean the banks of both rivers.
The project is part of the Adopt-A-River program, which has been working to clean the area rivers since 1994.
Volunteers wishing to help the club’s cleanup of the Red Cedar River should meet at Sparty at 10 a.m. Saturday.
To help in Lansing, volunteers are asked to meet behind the City Market, 333 N. Cedar St., under the Shiawassee Street Bridge at 8 a.m.
Both cleanups will provide lunch for the volunteers and will continue even with rain.
Wildlife and fisheries junior Karla Clark said the rivers desperately need help.
“There is a lot of stuff in there that shouldn’t be there in the first place,” said Clark, the club’s secretary.
She said she hopes the cleanup becomes a tradition with MSU students.
“It is their campus and it reflects our students, and it reflects the attitudes that students have,” she said.
Although the cleaning starts in the morning, Clark said volunteers can help the entire day.
Missy Luyk, administrative supervisor for the Mid-Michigan Environmental Action Council, said along with the cleaning there will be booths set up providing environmental information.
“(It’s) a chance to beautify the river and river bank in ways that are consistent with environment practices and it also increases the quality of life in the Lansing area,” she said
John Strickler, communications director for the Lansing Board of Water and Light, said people who volunteer have a good time.
“The work is kind of drudgery, but I haven’t seen anyone who isn’t happy to be there,” he said.
Bob Godbold, director of environmental health with the Ingham County Health Department, said rain might hurt the cleanup but he was happy to see people getting involved but warned against pollution.
He said volunteers should remember to wash their hands before eating.
“Good personal hygiene is a good message when they are working around the river,” he said.
