Hey! One last reminder - this coming Saturday, September 17, is Friends of the Rum River's 6th annual Fun in the Rain or Sun Clean up the Rum event! Meet us at Rum River Park North, St. Francis, to put in at about 9:30 am. Takes about 3 hours max to do the route if you keep paddling - otherwise, take it at your leisure. Country Camping will be providing shuttle service until 1 pm, and a half dozen canoes..

See the attached poster for details - the route is 8 1/2 miles (messed up my math on the last post).

Hope to see you Saturday! Contact me if you have questions, or to reserve a canoe (at no cost).

Kriste
612-309-5838
RumRiverNews@yahoo.com

Clean up the Rum River September 17th!

The details for the 2011 Friends of the Rum River cleanup have finally been hammered out! This time we'll be traversing 7 1/2 miles from Rum River Park North (St. Francis) downstream to Rum River Park Central. Come join Friends of the Rum River on Saturday, September 17th. Please download, post and hand out this poster to anyone interested.

The awesome Seniors of Andover High School have adopted much of the Rum River downstream from Rum River Park Central -- so we are leaving that section up to them. Good job, guys and gals! The more the merrier.

Planning 2011 Rum River Cleanup

Hi All:

It's that time of the year again!

Friends of the Rum River is in the process of planning our 6th annual (or so) Rum River cleanup! This year we will take on a 20 mile stretch - most of the river passing through Anoka County, all in one day, on Saturday, September 17th.

We are looking for two logistical crews and two volunteer river cleanup teams to carry this off. There will be about 5 people per logistical crew, one logistical crew to manage a volunteer team of 20 or more people cleaning from Rum River County Park North (St. Francis) to Rum River Park Central (about 7 miles), and another logistical crew to manage another volunteer team of 20 or more putting in at Rum River Park Central, to pull out at the Anoka County Fairgrounds (about 12 miles). A few more watercraft will go around the dam in Anoka and clean on down to the Mississippi River (one mile more).

Fun logistical duties: organizing pick up service, organizing shuttle service, checking people in at the put-in site, putting up signs, making signs, posting posters, getting snacks, being the lead or tail watercraft for your group that just makes sure everyone comes through all in one piece, helping manage hefty stuff ... and more.

Past items collected: tires, Mary Poppin's umbrella, a dock, beer cans, more tires, 2 snowmobiles, and more.. tires. And lots of great wildlife photos.

If you just want to volunteer the day of, let us know that too!

Thanks.
Wally Hed, River Cleanup Coordinator 763-689-9619
Kriste Ericsson RumRiverNews@yahoo.com

Not much new at this end, but some great plans are in the works! First, watch for the Friends of the Rum River booth at the Earth Day event being sponsored by the ARCC students on Saturday, Apri 23rd! This is at the Anoka Ramsey Community College - Cambridge Campus, on the Spirit River Nature area, shores of the Rum River... We will be quizing passers-by with a great activity, called "What's in the Rum?" I hear there may also be an Easter Egg hunt for the young 'uns -- (might be a few of those in the Rum too.)

Wally Hed and Ralph Borchardt have some big ideas in the works for our next Rum River cleanup in September -- not just a 9 mile stretch this time, but a series of 7 to 9 mile stretches so that all of the Rum in Anoka County gets picked up! Well, it has been done before by Lyle Bradley et al -- so who knows -- this could be big! Keep checking this site for updates.

This photo is of several pair of swans we followed up and back Lake Ogechie during the cleanup in September 2010. Hope to see you all this year!

911 Rum River Photos at Lake Mille Lacs

For photos of the Rum River cleanup on Saturday, September 11th, go to: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2060211&id=1414272479&l=c6e6efb13e

Enjoy! KE

Cleaning up the Rum River at Mille Lacs Kathio State Park

Dear Friends of the Rum River and MN Returned Peace Corps Volunteers and everyone else:

Saturday, September 11th, 15 or so "die-hards" drove up to Mille Lacs Kathio State Park to participate in Friends of the Rum River's annual "Fun in the Rain or Sun Cleanup the Rum". Despite a dour forcast for the morning and definitely blustery winds, the day was beautiful and we had a great time!

Setting out in 7 canoes from the park's boat launch, we headed upriver towards Lake Ogechie and Mille Lacs Lake. Actually, I think the Peace Corps Volunteers (about half of you) maybe headed downstream to Lake Shakopee (typical RPCVs!!) Never saw you again. (Let me know what you picked up).

In any case, I think the RPCVs survived too, and thanks so much for showing up! The rest of us brought in about 40 pounds of trash (biggest item: a tire on the beach head of Lake Mille Lacs, where three canoes shared a picnic lunch provided by Subway - plenty of chips and subs for all! (Thank you so much, Subway of Onamia). Smallest items collected: a dozen or so fishing bobbers and lures. Other items: exotic brands of beer cans.

Well, we didn't meet our record haul of last summer when we brought in two rusted out snowmobiles, two boat hulls, five tires, a riding mower and various other sundry stuff down below Isanti, but that was very reassuring, since we were in a state park. Special thanks to Chief Park Interpreter Jim Cummings, Asst. Director Chris Erickson, and all the other park people. The park lent 6 canoes and equipment to the endeavor. Jim gave a great introduction to the cultural history of the park and the peoples who lived there, dating from way back.

The blustery weather reminded me of dicey weather in the Boundary Waters, so some nice nostalgia there. Paul Carlson and Kermit Ericsson followd six swans up Lake Ogechie (swimming, taking off, landing, taking off.. etc) and I and my canoe partner got to follow the swans the two miles back down the lake.

Very few mishaps - a canoe motor conked out, a new piece of litter was added to the river, unreclaimable (a digital camera, by my canoe partner, ha ha boo hoo), I lost two bags (one with my camera) and found them again... all in all a very good time.

Back at the boat landing, when I was wading in after the one unretreivable camera, there was an audience of a four year old girl and her younger brother, both very concerned. "You're getting your pants wet!" "I have another pair in the car." "Your shirt is getting all wet!!" "Got another of those in the car too." "Do you have socks in the car?" "Yes, I have socks".

Glad it stopped there.

Thanks, again, all of you!

See more of you next year, or be a <*))))))))<<

Kriste