BGSU senior Kayla Kirkpatrick shared her summer and part of autumn with us as our awesome Program Intern. In her own words, here’s how she described her experience with Partners for Clean Streams.

 “Over the past three months I have worked as a Program Intern at Partners for Clean Streams. The programs I helped out with included Clean Your Streams 365, Storm Drain Marking, Get the Lead Out, and Reel in and Recycle. It is hard to choose which program is my favorite because they are vastly different from one another. One of my hopes for this internship was to experience a sense of belonging to the organization and my community.”

“I got plenty of experience digging through mud and trash over the past couple of months. Some of the most memorable clean-ups would probably be the CYS 365 Paddle Clean-Ups. This is a partnership with the Toledo Metroparks. Other memorable programs would be the Blue Grass Island Cleanup (in Side Cut Metropark), and the Delaware Island Cleanup. When I wasn’t out in the field, I spent time logging data from the clean-ups, and organizing/ prepping items around the office. While these don’t seem as exciting as the programs themselves, they are very important to keeping the organization running smoothly. Additionally, while I spent most of the programs assisting the Program Coordinator, I got the opportunity to run some programs on my own. I feel like this opportunity helped to boost my leadership skills because I had to keep everything organized. I feel the skills I have learned at this internship will help me in my career in the future as an Environmentalist, as well as help me in my day to day life.” 

Thank you for all your hard work, Kayla! The PCS team wishes you the best in your future endeavors.

In 2021, the City of Toledo started a project through US EPA’s Trash Free Waters program to install trash capture devices around Toledo’s waterways and raise awareness around marine debris. The City recruited a team of community organizations – including us – to provide outreach and stewardship opportunities.

Three trash traps were installed in Toledo waterways in 2022. Two were “Brute Bin” traps, one in the Ottawa River below the Stickney Avenue Bridge, and the other in the mouth of Swan Creek below the Owens Corning Parkway bridge. The third device was a “Net and Boom” style trap, installed in Silver Creek where it passes nearby Alexis Road. These devices are removed during colder weather to avoid damage, but this project will continue into 2023, when we’ll see the installation of new types of devices, as well as previously installed devices moved to new locations to maximize their effectiveness. 

Between the beginning of April and the end of September, Partners for Clean Streams coordinated twelve watershed clean-ups inside the Toledo Trash Trappers’ project area: within five river miles of Lake Erie. Some of these sites were deliberately chosen to take volunteers within sight of installed trash trapping devices in the lower Ottawa River and the mouth of Swan Creek to pair volunteer cleanups with trash traps. Data on types of trash removed during our clean-ups has been sent to the University of Toledo so that graduate student researchers can compare the trash types removed by volunteers on land to the devices in the water. Across these twelve clean-ups, 134 volunteers removed 4,863.5 pounds of marine debris from Toledo waterways.

We will continue to work with the City of Toledo and other partner organizations, including the University of Toledo and Keep Toledo/Lucas County Beautiful, next year in 2023! In the meantime, check out some tips for reducing marine debris every day.

Help your waterways by donating to an organization that works every day to educate, lead volunteers, and provide guidance to local municipalities for cleaner waterways! This year, #GivingTuesday falls on November 29, and Partners for Clean Streams will be participating!

#GivingTuesday is a global movement to give back to charities that help make communities better places to live, work, and play. In our case, donations made during #GivingTuesday will help us to better support our year-round waterway stewardship, education, and outreach efforts.

There are easy three ways to donate:

1. Donate online through our secure PayPal account

2. Mail a check to Partners for Clean Streams (P.O. Box 203, Perrysburg, OH 43552) with #GivingTuesday in the memo line

3. Make a recurring gift by linking your Kroger Plus Card with the instructions on our website, or connect your Amazon account to support us by searching “Partners for Clean Streams” on AmazonSmile.

Out donors inspire us and fuel the work we do. Please consider supporting your waterways by making Partners for Clean Streams a part of your #GivingTuesday giving.