Anglers give the Kettle river a bit of spit and polish
By Contributor
Members of the Kettle / Granby / Boundary (KGB) Fly Anglers met and “polished” up the Kettle River in Grand Forks last Sunday, Nov. 29.
One of the members had noted that somehow a couch had arrived in the middle of the river just downstream from the Black Train Bridge on 68th Avenue. After discussing possible remedies at their informational meeting the previous Thursday night they decided that they MUST take action.
Members met in the college parking lot and planned their attack on the debris but specifically the couch. Four of them went into the river while their main-man stayed on the road with a hand winch and brought the couch and other debris including a truck wheel to the bank. That was the first truck load.
The team then decided to walk the river as far as City Park and continued to pull debris including: liquor bottles, bicycle parts, office chair parts, old cast iron sewer pipe, assorted metals and just plain garbage – coffee cups and beer/pop cans and other plastics – as well as a two-foot-long chunk of commercial grade plastic culvert that was not very old (shame on whoever left that behind).
“We need to emphasize that pollution of our rivers and waterways will reduce the pleasures not only for us but our kids and grand-kids,” said Bud Alcock, one of the members of the clean-up crew. “The KGB Fly Anglers would like to acknowledge the Regional District for waiving the tipping fees for the garbage load.”
Watch for more news from the KGB Fly Anglers in coming months as they have
other projects in the works and plan a major river cleansing for August of
2010. If other organizations would like to join in or if you are a fly angler or tyer please contact KGBFlyAnglers@gmail.com.
