Revival

Carmia Fiechtner, a Thompson River Project alumna, and Bev Hall (right), of the Thursday Thompson Valley Rotary, clean up the banks of the Big Thompson River.

Waves of volunteers armed with enormous orange trash bags spread out from Loveland’s Centennial Park to comb the banks of the Big Thompson River. So began the first ever Thompson River Revival, sponsored by the Forum and the City of Loveland Natural Areas program.

Approximately 175 people turned out for the Revival. Volunteers picked up trash along the river, planted trees, and checked out information booths, before filling themselves with pork barbecue, pasta salad and New Belgium beer. A rugged few stayed into the evening, despite the dropping temperature and brisk wind, to listen to Dr. J’s Medicine Band and Cornerstone Band. The concert ended early because of the weather, but with a little luck, the rest of the evening’s line-up – Drumming Thunder Band, Mary Buirgy and Friends, and Nature’s Son with Ralph Rivera – will agree to a make up concert in the not too distant future.

Attendees heard about the Revival through a variety of means. Some read about it in the Loveland Daily Reporter Herald, others were recruited through community organizations or employers. Local Rotary Clubs, Agilent Technologies, Girl Scout Troop #65, and Eagle Rock School in Estes Park all chipped in. Hadley Hentschel, a student teacher at Thompson Valley High School, offered extra credit to participating students. Presumably the students got their points despite not being able to remove the cars from the river. It wasn’t for lack of trying.

Regardless of how they were recruited, the volunteers all seemed to understand that water doesn’t just come from the tap, and that it needs to be protected. Walt Wilderman, a retired Thompson Valley school teacher, summed up his reasons for participating: “I’m interested in the river because I like to fish and I like to drink water and I like to see clean water. That’s where I’m coming from.”

By the end of the day, 2400 pounds of trash were removed from the banks of the Big Thompson River, spanning the stretch from Wilson Avenue to U.S. 287. Participants picked up the expected beverage containers and paper waste, but they also found baseballs, a bicycle, clothing, and PVC pipe. Not included in the total tonnage headed for the landfill were two dozen golf balls squirreled away by one gentleman for future practice shots, and a remote control boat, still operational, spirited away by Steve Adams, chairman of the Forum’s board of directors.

While some people cleaned up the river, Trees, Water, and People led a huge tree planting effort around the Jay Hawker Ponds. Ninety trees – 30 each of Rocky Mountain juniper, Colorado blue spruce, and Austrian pine – now add to the aesthetic appeal of the recently rehabilitated ponds, which celebrated their grand opening on the same day as the Revival.

A number of businesses, organizations, and government agencies, including the Forum, New Belgium Brewing, the Colorado Collaborative Rain and Hail Study, Larimer County Open Lands Program, City of Greeley Water and Sewer, and the Loveland Open Lands program, set up informational booths about their environmental efforts. Dr. Jim Barrington demonstrated the effects of water flow and diversion on stream channels with the West Greeley Conservation District’s stream trailer.

A future stream ecologist checks out aquatic critters at

the Life in the River display presented by Cole Wild

(left) and Jeremiah Davis from the River Watch program

at Thompson Valley High School.

The City of Loveland Parks and Recreation department took advantage of the gathering to solicit public input on its draft Open Lands Plan. Visitors to their table voted on which of four alternative plans they liked best. The event was a success, with a great number of residents expressing their opinions.

Students in Rob Buirgy’s Thompson River Project class displayed bullfrogs, crappies, blue gills, backswimmers, and a salamander in aquariums for a close-up look at Life in the River. Several budding stream ecologists peered through the microscopes at the stream insects on display. The Colorado Division of Wildlife was on-hand with Rivers Are A-Maze-ing – a portable maze that enticed kids of all ages to learn about the animals that live on and around rivers. Miss Q. T. Pie the Clown even tied animal balloons – Marion Alexander, spouse of Forum board member Ben, seemed pleased with her ladybug bracelet.

Teresa Steely, with the North Fork (of the Gunnison) River Improvement Association, drove from Paonia for the event, and spent much of the day staffing the Forum’s Kid’s Activities Booth, which included face painting and educational and fun water-related activities. The Forum hopes to expand interaction amongst watershed groups across the state.

Forum program manager Janeen Simon was pleased: “We feel that the Revival was a huge success due primarily to the excellent collaborative efforts of interested organizations and the spirit of cooperation displayed by the Big Thompson watershed communities. We couldn’t have done it without the help of Brian Hayes and Debbie Eley of Loveland Natural Areas. We were so thrilled by the event, in fact, that we’ve already begun planning next year’s river clean up!”