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Gravina Clean Up
By Jerry Cegelske

 

 

June 27, 2007
Wednesday


On the last two Saturday's volunteers have been busy bagging trash and collecting junk on the shores of Gravina Island. On the 23rd when I was operating the boat to beach it on Gravina, the engine quit when I didn't expect it to. I repeatedly tried to start it, which it would do, but when I put it in forward the engine would quit. It worked a little in reverse but not as it usually does. I was concerned about water in the fuel and drained the fuel sump of any water. We made it to shore and I left the engine to sit for awhile rather than drain the battery. When it was time for lunch I started the engine again and when it died, I raised it completely out of the water and the problem revealed itself. There was a 1inch rope wrapped around the propeller, which reminded me why Gravina needs to be cleaned up. The propeller must have picked it up just as we got to shallow water.

jpg collection of trash

A collection of rope and net from the beach.

Luckily the day went well from that point on and as on the 16th, we went on to collect a lot of trash and find a few treasures. After lunch we worked collecting trash by the airport runway construction. We collected a refrigerator with ketchup, mustard and mayonnaise still in it though the door was lying nearby. It looked like someone had just thrown it over the side and let the wind blow it to shore.

Much of the bagged trash collected on the 19th of May was collected earlier and put in a container for the landfill. It amounted to about 15 cubic yards and weighed 3090 pounds. Much of it was Styrofoam and plastic collected from the area South of the runway. The amount collected did not include the two large piles of trash which was not bagged. We expect the trash collected the last two weekends to weigh more due to the amount of wire rope and tires we had collected.

There will be more clean ups scheduled for July and I hope that you can participate, it's a great way to get some exercise and help improve the way the community looks.

Jerry Cegelske
Ketchikan, AK




The rope that was wrapped around the propeller.

Volunteers Bryce Timm, Krysten Brown, Whitney Harrell and Echo McInturff
waiting for the hamburgers to get done.



Whitney Harrell and Echo McInturff resting on a large stump on Gravina Island waiting for lunch.


Some of the trash collected on the 23rd by the volunteers.


A refrigerator collected from the cove by the airport runway construction.


Some of the trash collected on the 16th of June by volunteers



Received June 27, 2007 - Published June 27, 2007

About: "Jerry Cegelske is the coordinator for the Gravina Island Clean Up."

 

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