Volunteers Remove 13,450 Lbs. Of Trash From Local Waterways In Cherokee National Forest

Over the last month, 50 volunteers have helped to remove 13,450 lbs. of trash from local waterways in Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful’s 4th annual Cherokee National Forest River Cleanup Series. Since the series began in 2021, a grand total of 58,590 lbs. of trash have been removed from rivers in the Cherokee National Forest.

Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful established the Cherokee National Forest River Cleanup Series to help preserve lakes in the Tennessee’s largest tract of public land, showcasing the vastness of the forest by hosting river cleanups spanning from South Holston Lake in Abingdon, Va. to Parksville Lake near Chattanooga.

“It was so encouraging that these cleanups have made enough progress over the last few years that we had to look a little harder to find coves and shorelines to clean this year," said Kathleen Gibi, Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful executive director. "It’s our volunteers and partners who deserve all of the credit for these cleaner lakes, because our cleanups certainly wouldn’t be possible without them.”
 
2024 Cherokee National Forest River Cleanup Series results:

- Feb. 17 - Watauga Lake of the Watauga River Elizabethton, Tn. - 4,498 lbs.
- Feb. 18 - South Holston Lake of the Holston River Abingdon, Va. - 2,239 lbs.
- March 2 - Tellico Lake of the Tellico River Vonore, Tn. - 3,186 lbs.
- March 3 - Chilhowee Lake of the Little Tennessee River Tallassee, Tn. - 1,719 lbs.
- March 6 - Parksville Lake of the Ocoee River Benton, Tn. - 1,807 lbs.

 Total 13,450 lbs.

Over 257 bags of trash and 34 tires were recovered in the 2024 cleanup series.

Added to the cleanup map in the series this year was Chilhowee Lake in Tallassee, Tn. This was KTnRB's first time cleaning the lake, and the cleanup covered about half of the lake’s entirety (between the dam and TabCat Creek at the famed "Tail of the Dragon" scenic drive). Only two coves remain to be cleaned on that stretch of the lake, and both can be accessed via land near a campground. 

Ms. Gibi said the KTnRB team hopes someone will adopt that river mile to upkeep the cleanliness of the lake in the future.

Officials said, "This year, KTnRB didn’t host a group cleanup with volunteers on Parksville Lake due to challenges finding enough litter in 2023, after three years of the group cleaning the lake. They did, however, partner with Tennessee Aquatic Weed Removal, a company that has a specialized amphibious boat featuring an industrial claw. The company has donated its services for several years now to KTnRB help remove abandoned boats and other massive items. Bryan Bortle, owner of the company, used the boat to lift and flip over an abandoned boat that was floating belly up on Parksville Lake so that the KTnRB crew could tow it back to a nearby marina boat ramp. 

Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency Polk County Wildlife Officer Mattew Hammons assisted with hauling the boat to the landfill once it was on land. Another small, abandoned sailboat was also retrieved while the KTnRB crew was on Parksville Lake."

Partners that supported the group cleanups through the series included Keep Carter County Beautiful and Keep Jonesborough Beautiful on Watauga Lake; Washington County Park and Holston Valley Unitarian Church on South Holston Lake; Volunteer East Tennessee on Tellico Lake; and the Theta Tau fraternity from the University of Tennessee on Chilhowee Lake.

Trash from each cleanup was hauled away with donated dumpster services from: Carter County Government on Watauga Lake; Washington County Park on South Holston Lake; Monroe County Government on Tellico Lake; and Patriot Services LLC on Chilhowee Lake.

The Cherokee National Forest River Cleanup Series was made possible by funding received from the Tennessee Valley Authority and the Tennessee Department of Transportation's "Nobody Trashes Tennessee" litter campaign.

For more information regarding KTNRB's schedule, visit www.KeepTNRiverBeautiful.org/upcomingcleanups.