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Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Photos: Volunteers clean up Iowa River
Project AWARE canoeists spend week on annual task
Brian Soenen, board chairman of Project AWARE, paddles the Iowa River near Chelsea in Tama County on Thursday during the nonprofit’s 20th annual river cleanup. It is the state’s largest river cleanup event, with volunteers spending a week canoeing, camping and cleaning along a different Iowa river each year. N-Compass Inc. of Marion formed the Project AWARE nonprofit. Major partners are the Iowa Department of Natural Resources and the State Hygienic Laboratory at the University of Iowa. Around 6,000 volunteers have removed almost 1 million pounds of trash from Iowa rivers in the past 20 years. (Geoff Stellfox/The Gazette)
Ada Zimmermann shows off a baby toad resting on her arm Thursday during the Project AWARE cleanup of the Iowa River. (Geoff Stellfox/The Gazette)
Volunteer Jim Dodd sports a hat featuring bobbers on Thursday during Project AWARE’s annual cleanup of the Iowa River. (Geoff Stellfox/The Gazette)
Loyd Herzberg, who’s volunteered nine years with the Project AWARE river cleanup, listens Thursday as the day’s itinerary is read. The river cleanups started in 2003 and selects a different Iowa river each year for cleanup efforts. The nonprofit’s volunteers spend a week each summer camping and cleaning the river. It is the largest such river cleanup in the state. (Geoff Stellfox/The Gazette)
Project AWARE volunteers carry their canoe to the Iowa River near Chelsea on Thursday to begin another day of cleaning the river. The annual cleanup is the largest in the state. (Geoff Stellfox/The Gazette)
Project AWARE volunteers work together to remove hog fencing from the Iowa River on Thursday, during the nonprofit’s annual week of cleaning the river. (Geoff Stellfox/The Gazette)
Project AWARE volunteers take a moment to take in the big sky over the Iowa River during the penultimate day of the nonprofit’s annual cleanup of the river. Project AWARE stands for A Watershed Awareness River Expedition. (Geoff Stellfox/The Gazette)
Volunteer Richard Worm removes metal fencing from the Iowa River on Thursday during Project AWARE’s weeklong, annual cleanup of the river. (Geoff Stellfox/The Gazette)
Name tags track volunteers participating in this year’s weeklong cleanup of the Iowa River. (Geoff Stellfox/The Gazette)
Ryan Ceynar of Iowa City helps pull metal fencing out of the Iowa River Thursday during the weeklong cleanup of the river by Project AWARE volunteers. (Geoff Stellfox/The Gazette)
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