River Cleanup Townsend

[Byron Begley]

Maybe it would be a good idea for TU to organize a river cleanup in Townsend. This might also serve as a goodwill service to the landowners on the river. With increased use of the river for fishing and other sports, I think that might ease some tension. We could notify all landowners on the river that we are planning a cleanup and they could call me if they don't want their property involved. That would be an opportunity for me to get to know them. Just a thought.

Byron

[Gerry Romer]

Originally Posted by Byron Begley

...they could call me if they don't want their property involved. That would be an opportunity for me to get to know them. Just a thought.

Byron

There you go... sticking your neck out there and laying it right on the chopping block again .

Whatta guy!!

Gerry

[tennswede]

Byron!

If you still are interested, let me know what you think about the new FFF being involved in this. I'm trying to build momentum for a fall cleanup somewhere along the river and It could be in Townsend. I would like to make it a morning clean up and maybe a noon lunch and then fish somewhere on the river for the evening. I would suggest September the latest. Let me know what you think?

[Byron Begley]

Hans,

I think this would be a good idea. It might help ease some angler/landowner tension here in town. We could contact each landowner. If they didn't want us on their property they could contact me. Otherwise we'll be wading down the stream picking up trash.

Byron

[Vern]

Hans, I have contacted Scott Weber MTFF President and he thinks it sounds like a good Idea. I will hopefully present it to the club next month. One question I have, do we want to do the weekend of Trout Fest where people are already coming into town or pick another weekend to avoid Trout Fest so we don't conflict with them. I made my first trip during Oct. last year and after fighting the traffic for 4 days I think Oct. would be hard to do.

[tennswede]

Thanks Byron, I'm going to try to push for this through our club to see how many who would be interested. Vern seem to have good connections in Mid Tennessee, this could be a fun and worthwhile project. I'll keep you posted.

Thanks again for your great service and Daniel helped me tremendously when I began my fly tying adventure. I'll probably see you all Saturday again. Can't stay away.

[Byron Begley]

I talked to Joe Hatton yesterday from the Little River Chapter of TU. He and I had originally discussed this cleanup as a TU project. We decided to wait until the fall of 2008 so I could find out more about land ownership issues. He was happy to hear that it will probably happen. You can probably count on the Little River Chapter as a partner.

I also spoke to Townsend's Mayor, Shannon Skidmore about the cleanup this morning. He owns the dumpster company in town. He said he would donate the dumpsters and haul the trash away and place 3 or 4 of them in strategic locations near the river. He also said the city would donate the trash bags. He thinks the landowners would be happy for us to do this and it wouldn't cause any problems.

Byron

[tennswede]

Thank you Byron, I'm going to run this by our club next month and Vern over in middle tennessee will run it by them over that way. If we can get two FFF clubs and Little River TU involved we should be able to have a good turnout. If we can get some small lunch and then on to fishing we might make it a real event. I'm really looking forward to this. I'll let you know when we get closer to a decision made at the club.

[Byron Begley]

We could probably use the Pavillion at the Townsend Visitors Center for the picnic and Media Press Conference after the cleanup. Hans, I can't wait to see you on television.

Byron

[tennswede]

Wait a minute now, me on TV, that would be a scary sight!