Rivers have always been essential to humanity; many are considered sacred. Our river, the Sangamon, was born 20,000 years ago, near the end of the last Ice Age, and has witnessed the arrival and everyday life of hundreds of generations of Indigenous people and only a few of generations of our forbearers. And yet, our presence has scarred the river and its shoreline in the form of cast-off flotsam and jetsam from those who use the river as a dump. From tires to fire-cracked beer bottles, a mattress, a vintage agricultural disk, the rusting remains of an automobile, nothing is too large or small to have been cast into the river or accumulated on one of the many sandbars that line the stream.
Each year Menard County Trails & Greenways volunteers plie their way
along the river in their watercraft to collect trash until their boats are filled to the gunnels and beyond. It is demanding, muddy, stinking, and rewarding work; sadly, there is always more to be done.
Keep Menard County Clean. Put trash in its proper place. And step
forward when the call for assistance is made.
