2008 Woodie Awards
The River Runs Clean
UCF volunteers clean up Econ River
Amanda Moore
Issue date: 8/31/07 Section: News
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Along with a local organization, Volunteer UCF held its first environmental cleanup of the semester at Snow Hill, near the Little Big Econ State Forest.
Biology sophomore Lisa Haecker calls herself a "hard-core environmentalist," and she proved it. Not only was she the first to arrive for the VUCF car pool to Snow Hill, but she also braved sweltering afternoon heat and walked two miles from her Riverwind Apartment to the UCF Visual Arts Building to catch a ride. At least five LEAD Scholars attended in order to meet a volunteer requirement set by their program.
Seven pairs of Nikes, five pairs of Reeboks and two matching pairs of Crocs arrived and the volunteers wearing them were ready to start working.
Matt Melvin, an environmental engineering freshman at UCF, said that giving up his Sunday wasn't just about the relevance to his major.
"I would be sitting at home right now, you know? I'd like to make, even if just a little one, a difference," he said.
Melvin said he has also volunteered to work with the homeless and sort donations in the past.
Balancing on a truck bed to overlook the attendees, ECO-Action founder Beth Hollenbeck reminded the canoeists and hikers on site of the day's mission. "We're not here to make it pretty," she said. "We're doing it to make it safe for the animals. The slower you go and the less area you cover, the better the job you're doing."
According to the group's Web site, ECO-Action has conducted more than 450 clean-ups and guided 5,000 people into the waters across Central Florida using single-person canoes.
Not to be confused with a kayak, the single-person canoe may easily capsize. Despite that drawback, Hollenbeck said the canoe is practical because it can carry more of the waste found along the water.
"We find bicycles, 55-gallon drums … In a kayak, you'd be helpless," she said.
To further drive the concept of grassroots consumerism, each of ECO-Action's 11 canoes was crafted by Mohawk, a locally-owned family business.
ECO-Action wrote in an e-mail that for 15 years, its primary focus has been to remove treacherous debris that endangers wildlife, free entangled animals and rehabilitate others.
Ten volunteers paddled up and down the Econlockhatchee River Sunday while the remaining 11 hiked and searched the grounds for empty beer cans, broken glass and the occasional piece of lime green fishing line. One volunteer even found some unsettling shotgun shells.