Q&A: Canoers Pick Up Trash From the Lamoille River

On a recent foggy Saturday morning, 11 canoers met at the Upper Lamoille River Access in Wolcott — not for a leisurely paddle but, rather, a trash-picking adventure. The crew launched boats into the Lamoille River and, while paddling downstream, stopped to collect all manner of garbage, including tires, plastic and propane tanks. Some of the debris was from the summer floods. Northern Forest Canoe Trail and Lamoille River Paddlers’ Trail organized the outing.

For the latest episode of “Stuck in Vermont,” Seven Days senior multimedia producer Eva Sollberger hitched a ride with the group and recorded the afternoon’s muddy finds. They traversed almost five miles, filling seven canoes with rubbish along the way. At one point, Sollberger flipped a canoe and wound up in the river — luckily, no harm was done.

Sollberger spoke with Seven Days about filming the episode.

At one point, I sank down to my knees in the mud — talk about getting stuck in Vermont.

How did you hear about this event?

I saw a photo on Facebook of a canoe filled with tires. I don’t recall who posted it or which waterway it was from, but it made me curious. Then I received a press release about this outing from Chris Morris, the communications director at Northern Forest Canoe Trail. I thought it would be interesting to capture the journey — even if it meant waking up at 6:30 a.m. to get to Wolcott on time.

Do you go paddling often?

Not much these days. The last time I covered an event on a river was in 2016, and it was quite memorable. I was filming a nighttime paddle on the Winooski River and standing on my paddleboard when a rowboat rammed into me. I fell backward into the water and got a concussion and whiplash. Luckily, I kept hold of my GoPro camera. I was able to finish the paddle and eventually recovered after a lot of physical therapy.

So what happened this time?

I am a novice canoer, so I was a little worried about this trip. Most of the paddlers brought their own canoes and seemed experienced. Alex Delhagen, the assistant trail director for Northern Forest Canoe Trail, gave me a spot in his canoe. He did all the hard work of steering and paddling while I sat in the front of the canoe and filmed with my iPhone.

About half an hour into the trip, Delhagen got out to fetch some trash. A moment later, we were in the water. I’m still not sure what happened, but I was recording at the time, so you’ll see the dunk in the video. Luckily, newer iPhones are water-resistant, and mine continued to film for the remainder of the trip. And it was a warm, sunny day, so we were dry in no time. Thanks to the volunteer who loaned me a towel and to the couple who grabbed my hat before it floated down the river!

Did you find anything interesting?

Delhagen found a colorful plastic rooster with a solar light, which we think might have been a lawn ornament. I think he will keep that gem. Kim Jensen, who’s on the steering committee of Lamoille River Paddlers’ Trail, discovered a child’s bowling ball, which went home with her. I came upon a green wooden sign that used to hang outside a family’s trailer; their last name had been rubbed away. A group found a gigantic tractor tire that was too large to pull out. There was so much plastic wrapped around the trees and snaking through the underbrush. I counted a total of 14 tires, which were incredibly heavy because they were filled with muck. The mud had a lot of clay in it and felt like glue. At one point, I sank down to my knees in the mud — talk about getting stuck in Vermont.

Who was there?

It was a friendly group of volunteers, and many had participated in other river cleanups. Everyone was working so hard to drag trash off the banks and out of the river. They made a great team, even though not everyone knew each other when we set off.

Delhagen was pulling an empty canoe behind our vessel that he called “the barge.” It was not easy to maneuver two canoes, but soon they were both filled with tires, pieces of metal and the top of a chest freezer. The water was shallow in places, and we had to walk the canoes over rapids and riffles. We were lucky it had rained recently, or we would have been dragging the canoes.

Looked like you got some nice weather.

The day started off foggy and then transformed into a brilliant fall afternoon. It was so wonderful just being outside, seeing the river from a new perspective, soaking up the colorful foliage and listening to the birds. I saw raccoon tracks, and another volunteer spied a great blue heron’s footprints. We disturbed a flock of geese, who flew away honking. I was exhausted, wet and muddy by the end of the four-hour paddle, and my iPhone battery was dead. But I also felt sun-kissed and happy from being outside with a great group of hardworking people.

The original print version of this article was headlined “Gone Fishin’ | Volunteer paddlers remove garbage from the Lamoille River”