Ottawa River Cleanup June 10th - Details

[PaleoFishGirl]

Here are all of the details I know about this Sunday's river cleanup so far.  If you are going to attend, please post in this thread.  If you're *not* coming, please refrain from telling us that here (I'll delete it - but go ahead and post in the other thread).  If you're not sure... wait until you know and then post (but hurry up and decide!!)

• The cleanup will be from 10 a.m. until noon on Sunday, June 10th at Britannia Beach.


• All supplies will be provided by the city and we can pick them up the morning of the cleanup at Victoria Island.  I will pick them up and may ask someone else to help me out, I'll let you know.


• Since we are potentially a large group (come on, guys, we need you!), OVAS is in charge of all the volunteers at Britannia Beach for this event.


• Please find attached a legal waiver that you must print off, sign and give to me when we meet at the Beach.  The City of Ottawa requires that all cleanup crew participants sign.


• There will be a picnic lunch afterwards at Westboro Beach, but since no one has shown any interest in attending, I guess we aren't going to participate.

Just for interest's sake, the Urban Rideau Conservationists Web site has details of last month's Rideau River cleanup, as well as lots of helpful 'river cleanup' links in the green box on the right hand side.

Thank you all in advance for your participation! Please feel free to pass the word around - you don't have to be affiliated with OVAS to come out and help!

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[Saltcreep]

Any idea what the National Capital Peace Council or the Universal Peace Federation have to do with this? Seems the city may use a generic release form and are the victim of a bad cut and paste job.

[PaleoFishGirl]

The City sends out a generic form for all such activities.  I'm guessing the Friends of the Ottawa Shoreline group just sent it out as-is.

[Saltcreep]

The City sends out a generic form for all such activities.  I'm guessing the Friends of the Ottawa Shoreline group just sent it out as-is.

But if the form doesn't state Friends of the Ottawa Shoreline in it, does the form satisfy the requirements of the city? Not something the volunteers would have to worry about but, the city could find themselves in a sticky situation if there ever was a problem and the waiver ended up being declared void.

[PaleoFishGirl]

Turns out the National Capital Peace Council of the Universal Peace Federation is actually organizing the entire cleanup. 

[Saltcreep]

Turns out the National Capital Peace Council of the Universal Peace Federation is actually organizing the entire cleanup. 

Cool. Who woulda thunk it?

[succinctfish]

I'll be there, mostly using one hand still, but happy to help out.    I hope there's a good turn out, that's a big beach. 

[PaleoFishGirl]

More info:

NCC will supply gloves, but we don't know how durable they are so you might want to bring your own.

NCC won't separate garbage from recyclables; if we want to recycle, we'll have to do it and take them home/drop them off somewhere ourselves. Garbage will be left at NCC garbage locations on-site.

[succinctfish]

Assuming the recyclables aren't really gross, are contained properly, and will fit in my trunk, I can take them back with me to recycle.  It's unfortunate that they are not accomadating that aspect.  Seems a little bizarre, save the river, trash the planet?

[succinctfish]

So who's coming to this shindig?

[PaleoFishGirl]

More details:

Participants are encouraged to bring:

their waiver
sunblock
insect repellent
hat
sunglasses,
work gloves
picnic lunch
water

  - still assuming you are on your own for lunch as no one has indicated a strong urge to join the main group at Westboro beach

***Biohazards e.g. needles and the like are to be avoided. However, we will provide neon tape so that the area they are in can be identified. The NCC will be notified to pick them up.

Britannia Beach - there will be 2 groups there: Ottawa Valley Aquarium Society & the Ottawa Environmental Organization

dpatte and I will pick up the cleanup materials from Victoria Island on the way to the beach.

[RoxyDog]

I shall be there. 

can I get a map to da beach over here, please?    I get lost easily.     and is there a certain place we'll all meet?

[PaleoFishGirl]

Here's a map to the beach. 

I guess we'll just meet in the parking lot at 9:45 or so

[succinctfish]

Let's talk footwear here.  Do we need rubber boots?  Are we cleaning land only, or land and shallows of the beach?  What does the fashionable enviromental debris picker upper wear? (or is that an oxymoron?) 

[succinctfish]

Oh yes, thanks for organizing this PFG 

[PaleoFishGirl]

Great question re: footwear, I've fired off an e-mail to ask about the land vs. water aspect of the pickup.

[PaleoFishGirl]

We will not be required to retrieve items from the water, unless someone wishes to bring a canoe They don't want any "accidental drownings".

We will be cleaning along the beachfront to start and will see how far we get by noon. I don't imagine you will need heavy footwear for that, it is sandy after all.

[PaleoFishGirl]

For those of you joining us at Britannia Beach tomorrow, apparently Sunday "Bike Days" have started in the Capital region - I forgot about those! This means that the Ottawa River Parkway is closed to vehicle traffic until 1pm so find a way to avoid it (shouldn't be too tricky).

[PaleoFishGirl]

Lovely day for a river cleanup

Please don't forget to print off a copy of the waiver (see first post), sign it and bring it with you!

Also, if anyone has a First Aid kit, can you please bring it along? I just found out that we're supposed to have one and I don't.

[mseguin]

I've got one, I'll bring it