This year the district added a new award, the Volunteer of the Year, to our other two annual awards, the Cooperator of the Year and the Educator of the Year. This was in part due to all the amazing work our Volunteer of the Year, Stacey Creamer put in to rehabbing the Agricultural Service Center’s rain garden. After completing the Master Rain Gardener course, Stacy put in 88 hours through the Ohio Volunteer Certified Naturalists program (OVCN) to increase the functionality, and the beauty of the rain garden – allowing it to be enjoyed by all those that stop by our office for a visit! (Photo at right: Stacey Creamer pictured with Commissioner David Painter).
We also recognized the Clermont County Park District Naturalists as our Educators of the Year. The park naturalists have significantly expanded their educational programming this past year and offer a wide range of conservation themed programs. The district has had the pleasure to partner with the Park District this year on several programs such as the development of the Landowner Conservation Series (which will be coming back in the new year). Additionally, they lead the Clermont County Volunteer Program which is a collaboration between the Park District and Clermont SWCD. We look forward to continuing to grow our partnership with the Parks in the years to come! (Pictured at left: Clermont Park District Naturalists with Ohio State Rep. Jean Schmidt)
Last, but certainly not least we awarded the Village of Williamsburg (below) with the Cooperator of the Year award. Throughout this past year we have received outstanding support from the village during our construction and development of the Williamsburg off-channel wetland project.
The 2024 Ohio River Sweep will be held on Saturday, June 24th 2023 at four different locations:
Participants must fill out and submit a Registration Form and Waiver Form. The registration form can be found at www.springlittercleanup.com, and the waiver form at www.orsanco.org/river-sweep/volunteer-waiver/. For questions or concerns, please contact Rebecca Ploucha via email at rebeccaploucha@gmail.com
For more information about Ohio River Sweep, visit www.orsanco.org/river-sweep/
2023 Spring Litter Cleanup volunteers at Clepper Park
The 2023 spring litter clean-up event was held on Saturday, April 22, in-person clean-ups at various sites across Clermont County and the East Fork Little Miami River watershed. Over 230 volunteers participated and collected a combined 310 bags of trash that morning.
The Litter Cleanup event is coordinated each year by the Clermont Soil and Water Conservation District and partially supported with a grant from Ohio EPA, Division of Recycling and Litter Prevention.
We truly appreciate the support from our event sponsor, the Southern Ohio Association of Realtors (SOAR). Thank you also to our partnering agencies and organizations, including the Adams/Clermont Soil Waste District, Clermont County Park District, Clermont Office of Public Information, Ohio Department of Natural Resources—Divisions of Parks and Watercraft, and the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers.
K-12 Spring Litter Cleanup logo design contest winners
The Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission’s (ORANSCO) Ohio River Sweep 2022 will be held on June 25, 2022 from 9 am to noon. The volunteer cleanup extends along the river and is a great volunteer opportunity for groups and individuals with cleanups in New Richmond and Moscow. For more information and registration, contact Penny at OhioRiverSweep@gmail.com.
2022 Winning Design by Ella Hurff
The 2022 Spring Litter Clean-up event was held on Saturday, April 23, with clean-ups at various sites across Clermont County and the East Fork Little Miami River watershed. Over 330 volunteers participated and collected a combined 380 bags of trash and 70+ tires. The Litter Cleanup event is coordinated each year by the Clermont Soil and Water Conservation District and the Valley View Foundation and partially supported with a grant from Ohio EPA, Division of Recycling and Litter Prevention. We truly appreciate the support from our event sponsor, the Southern Ohio Association of Realtors (SOAR). Thank you also to our partnering agencies and organizations, including the Adams/Clermont Soil Waste District, Clermont County Park District, Clermont Office of Public Information, Ohio Department of Natural Resources—Divisions of Parks and Watercraft, U.S. Army Corp of Engineers.
Ms. Ella Hurff, a 7th grade student at Milford Jr. High School, was the winner of the student design logo contest which is sponsored by SOAR to promote litter awareness and prevention in K-12th grade schools. Ella’s design was selected from over 90 entries. For more information about future litter clean up events, email Connie Miller at Clermont Soil & Water Conservation District, or call 513.732.7075 ext. 2
Thank you to all of the volunteers that participated in the 2020 “Summer” Litter Clean-Up (SLC)! This year’s event was a virtual, ‘Do-It-Yourself’ event during the month of July. Volunteers were encouraged to find nearby areas, streams and parks in need of litter removal. Over 115 people registered to participate this year. Every little bit of trash collected makes a big difference! Roadways and streams are the areas most plagued with trash and debris.
According to Keep Ohio Beautiful, the yearly estimates for roadside litter in Ohio is over 12 tons (or, 51.2 billion pieces of trash), with cigarettes being the most problematic. Much of this trash originates from motorists and ends up washing into storm drains and streams. Unfortunately it’s not uncommon to find dumping areas near streams and lakes, where items such as old appliances or car parts are irresponsibly discarded. Events like the SLC and the upcoming Ohio River Sweep are so important for communities to take action to clean up unsightly trash and work towards litter prevention.
Clermont SWCD and the Valley View Foundation would like to extend a special thank you to the event sponsors: Duke Energy Foundation, Southern Ohio Association of Realtors and the Clermont County Convention and Visitor’s Bureau. Thank you also to the local businesses that donated prizes for the volunteers who reported their activities: Lykins Energy Solutions, Chick-fil-A (Milford), Chipotle, AMC Movies, Shell Gas, Cincinnati Nature Center and the Clermont County Park District. We’re looking forward to SLC 2021!
P.S. Check out some of fun pictures sent in by our volunteers! https://www.springlittercleanup.com/
Due to the pandemic, safety concerns for the coordinators and volunteers prohibit the large groups of volunteers that ORSANCO’s Ohio River Sweep typically hosts. Despite these challenges, individuals, families and small groups may volunteer to do their own “mini-River Sweep” cleanups. These groups of 10 people or fewer can contact Penny Greenler, Clermont County’s River Sweep Coordinator, to sign-up for this event.
If you want to conduct your own river sweep, you will be supplied with a t-shirt and gloves (as long as supplies last) and lots of garbage bags.
Just follow these steps!!
We hope that this year’s Sweep can be conducted and fulfill its mission in this creative way, and continue engaging citizens in the importance of cleaning and protecting the Ohio River which is a valuable natural resource.
If you have an interest in learning more about the water quality in a nearby stream, you may want to consider becoming a volunteer water quality monitor. The Saturday Stream Snapshot (SSS) is a volunteer program run by Greenacres Foundation that researches the health of the Little Miami River watershed. Saturday Stream Snapshot takes place on the second Saturday of each month from March-November (11 am – 2 pm).
Volunteers are able to participate by collecting water samples from sites along the Little Miami or any of its tributaries and/or performing water quality analysis at the Water Quality Education Center in Milford. No previous water testing or lab experience is needed to participate! To learn more about the SSS program, please contact Emily Pickett at epickett@green-acres.org or (513) 370-3662.
