PADDLERS LOOK FOR LITTER ON CAPE LACROIX CREEK

Saturday afternoon Wyn Hirsch and Walter Stone paddled a canoe down Cape LaCroix Creek and mucked through the muddy creek bottoms looking for litter.

By the end of the day, the pair had loaded the canoe with one tire, one small swimming pool, a couple of garden stakes and lots of "crud."

The volunteers fished out as much as the 15 1/2 foot canoe could carry.

"Water had been up to 10-feet above our heads," Hirsch said. "It was hard to reach the bags and stuff hung up in trees."

Twice a year, members of the local Ozark Society chapter paddle the creek from Kingshighway to Hopper Road collecting trash and debris.

On the upper creek bank, members collected more litter, carefully separating recyclables and trash.

Hirsch admitted the day of stream cleaning wasn't a glamorous outing.

The water temperature was bone chilling. The creek bottom is full of muck. "It really sucks you in," Hirsch said. "But someone has to do it."

The local Ozark Society chapter joined the Missouri Department of Conservation Operation Stream Team a year ago. The project encourages organizations to adopt a section of Missouri waterway to keep clean.

"We fish out litter and old tires," Stone said, as he prepared to put the small aluminum canoe into the water just below the intersection of Kingshighway and Lexington. "It's amazing how much we will find in these two or three miles."

Later in the summer, the team will take a look at the water quality by studying insects and other creatures living in the creek.

Cape Girardeau's Cape LaCroix Creek has gained attention because of the city's storm drainage project. But first the creek was a creek.

"There's quite a lot of fish in here,' Stone said. "You can catch minnows, and you can fish."

The creek runs shallow in many places, so the canoe trip included lots of floating the trash over the shallows.

Hirsch said the outing is rewarding, if not actually fun.

"It feels good to be doing something for the community and also to be doing something for the greater good," she said.

Working toward the greater good is part of the mission of the Ozark Society.

The organization was started in Arkansas to save the Buffalo River and has expanded over the years. Cape Girardeau is the northernmost chapter.

The Ozark Society is a "soft" environmental organization, Hirsch explained.

"We don't pound nails into trees or form human chains in forests about to be logged," she said.

Instead, they try to make their environmental statement by example.

The group has quarterly meetings, with programs about environmental issues or topics.

They also plan outings like the stream clean up, canoe trips and hikes.

"Wherever we go, we always clean up as we go," Hirsch said. "Our goal is to encourage people to go outside and to leave things a little better than they found them."

"It's a labor of love," said Pat Hill, as she crushed an aluminum can and put it aside to be recycled. "We've made a commitment to preserve the outdoors."

The next meeting of the Ozark Society is at 7 p.m. May 3 at Cape County Park. The program is on endangered species of Missouri. The organization is open to new members. To participate, call Phil Dodson at (573) 339-7169.