Arnold Stream Team 211 will hold its annual winter cleanup on Saturday, March 5.
Volunteers are needed and are asked to meet at 8 a.m. at the Kiwanis Pavilion in Arnold City Park on Bradley Beach Road off Jeffco Boulevard near the Meramec River. Those younger than 18 years need an adult to sign a waiver to participate.
The day will begin with a light breakfast. Volunteers also will be provided with gloves, shirts and trash bags to use during the cleanup, which is expected to end at about noon. Volunteers are asked to dress appropriately for the outdoor cleanup.
“It would be nice to have 60 to 80 volunteers,” said Brian Waldrop, who co-chairs the Stream Team, along with Bernie Arnold. “Then we could sweep through the Arnold Park flood plain. We would be able to clean up the lower Pomme (Creek) from Flamm City to the old lower Tenbrook Bridge. We would be able to sweep through the Flamm City area and possibly another section of the Pomme. It will all depend on weather conditions.”
The Stream Team also holds a summer cleanup on the fourth Saturday in August. This year’s summer event is scheduled for Aug. 27.
The Arnold Stream Team formed in 1991, and over the past 30 years, Waldrop said the group and volunteers have removed more than 100,000 tires from Arnold’s waterways and tons of trash.
“We are getting up to 8,000 tires a year, which is crazy,” he said.
Also during the cleanup Waldrop said he hopes to clean out a device called a Watergoat that was installed Nov. 9, 2020, in Pomme Creek at Pomme Creek Park. The device is designed to collect trash that flows through the creek before it reaches the Meramec River.
“It has been too cold to get into the water,” Waldrop said.
“Hopefully during the cleanup, we can get in there to get it up to springtime condition.”
For more information about the winter cleanup, call Waldrop at 314-606-0755 or go to the Arnold Stream Team 211 Facebook page or to mostreamteam.org.