Summit County Executive Russell M. Pry And NEFCO Host Riverbank Clean-Up Day

On Saturday, September 8, 2007, from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Summit County Executive Russell M. Pry’s Department of Environmental Services, along with the Northeast Ohio Four County Regional Planning and Development Organization (NEFCO), will host a riverbank clean-up event along the newly restored banks of the middle Cuyahoga River.

The clean-up efforts will take place between the Middlebury Road Bridge in the City of Kent and Brust Park in the City of Munroe Falls. Volunteers are needed to work in the river in canoes, as well as along the shore way. The goal of the event is to remove debris that were hidden under the waters of the Cuyahoga River before the Munroe Falls Dam was removed in 2005.

Volunteers are being asked to wear work gloves, boots, wading shoes and waders (if possible) and bring a change of dry clothes and shoes. Participants are also being asked to bring small hand tools and rakes.

Canoeists and others working in the water are scheduled to enter the river at the Middlebury Road Bridge at 8:30 a.m.; while, shore based volunteers are to meet at 8:30 a.m. at the Fish Creek Water Reclamation facility, located at 2910 North River Road in the City of Stow. Canoe pullouts will be at the Fish Creek facility and Brust Park. Transportation will be made available to and from the pullout sites.

The clean-up day event is part of the ongoing Middle Cuyahoga River Restoration Project that is being sponsored by the following entities: the City of Kent; the City of Munroe Falls; the City of Stow; the County of Portage; Metro Parks, Serving Summit County; Northeast Ohio Four County Regional Planning and Development Organization (NEFCO); the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); the Summit County Department of Environmental Services; and the Summit Soil and Water Conservation District.

If the river is high, the clean up may be postponed until Saturday, September 15, 2007. A notice will be posted on the project website update page the Friday before the event.

For more information, please contact the Northeast Ohio Four County Regional Planning and Development Organization (NEFCO) at 330-252-0337.