Spring cleaning begins on Minnesota’s lakes and rivers

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Spring cleaning begins on Minnesota’s lakes and rivers
(Released May 9, 2011)


As the snow melts and the ice relents, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is encouraging people to join the Adopt-a-River program for the spring cleaning of public waters.

In March and April, two groups cleared frozen lakes and five other groups cleared other areas of trash after the busy ice-fishing season. As soon as the high waters recede, 18 additional groups will do a spring cleaning of garbage from the shores of rivers and lakes near Rochester, Austin, Duluth, Madelia, Rush City and numerous Twin Cities locations.

“The DNR’s Adopt-a-River Program helps citizens develop a sense of pride and ownership in their local waterways,” said Paul Nordell, Adopt-a-River coordinator. “This spring’s groups include lake associations, private businesses, outdoor clubs, schools, service clubs, government agencies, or simply individuals.”

To date, the Adopt-a-River program has helped over 82,000 volunteers collect nearly 6 million pounds of trash and clean 10,000 miles of shoreline. For more information about how to help clean Minnesota’s lakes, rivers, wetlands, ditches or ravines public waters, visit mndnr.gov/adoptriver or email adoptariver.dnr@state.mn.us.