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Nov 3, 2009
Name: Rebecca Kress
Type: Tribute (for the living)
To Honor: Individual(s)
Location: Ukiah/Mendocino County, California United States
Rebecca Kress is the founder and organizer of the Russian River Cleanup in Mendocino County since 1991. Rebecca's awesome project has removed 5,480 tires, hundreds of tons of appliances, toxics and trash, recycling what was possible. Rebecca has been working for the Mendocino County Water Agency teaching watershed education since 2006, including tree planting and rain gardens.



The last cleanup?


By CAROLE BRODSKY The Ukaih Daily Journal
11/03/2009 

The River Lady' prepares for final year

As Rebecca Kress looks at the photos from this summer's 19th annual Russian River Cleanup, she is amazed at what she sees. "It looks more beautiful than I've ever seen it," she muses.

The river looks nothing like it did when Kress was challenged 20 years ago to stop complaining and do something about the garbage and pollutants she noticed. Since then, Kress and a loyal cadre of volunteers have devoted countless hours pulling hundreds, if not thousands of tons of refuse from the watercourse which is the drinking water and recreation area for countless individuals, and one of the most significant wildlife habitats in the region.

Kress is retiring after the 2010 cleanup, and no one involved doubts her water shoes will be hard to fill.

Charlie Kelly volunteered from the beginning. "There were three Rotarians on that first float," remembers Kelly. "We used to find tires and iron thrown into the river, ostensibly for stream bank protection." Early on, it wasn't unusual for each off of 10 cleanup teams to pull 300 tires from the 50-mile stretch of river. Last summer, a total of four tires were removed.

Kelly and Kress speculate what will happen if no one assumes her coordination role after her retirement. "The non-access areas are clean and will most likely stay clean, but from Hopland south there could be a disaster," says Kelly.

Kress is speaking with the Mendocino Environmental Center, an organization many feel would be ideal, both administratively and philosophically, to assume responsibility for future cleanups.

"The MEC is very keen to assure that the great work done by Rebecca is continued - her efforts have shown just what a difference a passionate individual can make," says Hannah Bird, president of the Mendocino Environmental Center.

Conversations between MEC members and Kress are cautiously optimistic.

"I hope very much that this will become a project of the MEC in the future - although of course it will take volunteers from all over to help. The Russian River is one of the few watercourses we have access to and it needs to be respected. We hope to combine raising awareness of water pollution as an issue as well as contributing to cleanups," explains Bird.

Charlie Kelly notes in the past, the MEC has not directly supported the river cleanups, but feels there are many environmentally conscious organizations and individuals who will help out once a leadership group is identified.

Kress is committed to passing on all her knowledge and expertise to incoming organizers.

"I will lead them through every step of the process and turn over all my equipment as well as give them my ideas and suggestions," explains Kress.

The cleanups take advance preparation, and Kress notes traditionally she determined the dates for each cleanup at the beginning of the calendar year- which is coming up quickly.

"We need to begin soliciting donations, obtaining and maintaining our equipment," notes Kress.

Over the years, Kress developed positive and lasting relationships with all the landowners along the river.

"Ninety-five percent of the river areas are privately owned," notes Kress. She says without their support and permission, the cleanups would never have taken place.

Other supporters - Granite Construction, Chief Ken Johnson of the Hopland Fire Department and particularly, Bob Thornsberry of Empire Waste Management, have provided tremendous assistance.

"For 19 years, Bob has taken all our trash, appliances and toxins. He provided porta-potties, dumpsters and a free storage container for all our supplies. The community owes a huge debt of gratitude to Bob and Empire Waste Management," Kress said.

Not all river cleanups have been idyllic. Kress and her volunteers discovered and in some cases removed everything from meth labs to auto scrapping businesses, countless piles of human excrement, diapers and toxic waste- headed, stressed Kress, "into our water supply."

Kress has singlehandedly, with a landowner or with Supervisor John McCowen - who she terms "a true friend of the river" - rousted out transients, found unattended children swimming alone, and removed graffiti from overpasses.

Kelly hopes the continuity and positive relationships Kress has fostered will not disappear.

"If we can keep people from re-trashing the river, we have a chance. Keeping it clean is easier than cleaning it in the first place," he notes.

The MEC, according to Kress, will be much more likely to assume responsibility if others come forward to give them support. Kelly hopes that high school clubs such as Interact might be willing to spend some time on the water.

"All we need is a good dozen to 20 people to come to each cleanup, plus a group to make sure all the T's' are crossed," says Kelly.

Kress will continue her work with schools - informing students of the importance of their water sources.

"I try to find positive ways to give scary news to kids, but always with solutions," says Kress. In the meantime, she hopes that individuals, service clubs, churches and other agencies will consider what they are willing to do to preserve one of the county's most significant and singular resources.

"Let's start the local drive to keep Rebecca's river alive," smiles Kelly.

If you would like more information on helping with river cleanups, phone 707-463-4589.

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Posted: Nov 3, 2009 12:06pm
Mar 13, 2009
By Carole Brodsky

Rotarians honor river activist
for the Daily Journal

The South Ukiah Rotary Club presented it's first-ever Environmental Stewardship Award to Rebecca Kress, who for the past 19 years has been the driving force behind annual cleanups of the Russian River.

Kress, who received the award Thursday at the Rotarian's breakfast meeting, made a point of sharing the award with the organization, whose members in some cases have assisted her since the inception of the cleanups in 1991.

After serving in the Army, Kress moved to Ukiah and like most locals, fell in love with the Russian River. Her mission began simply enough as she was floating downstream with a friend and began noticing the piles of trash, tires and other more disturbing evidence of human traffic on the river. She commented to her friend, saying, "Why doesn't someone clean this up?" Her friend responded, "Why don't you?"

Kress stepped up to the plate and the cleanups began - simply at first, and as the years went on, word spread.

Rotarian Charlie Kelly, laughing, described how he, Dick Arneson and Bob Perkowski attended the early cleanups: "Willow trees are a great filter for human compostable materials.'"

Rebecca experimented with the formation of a non-profit organization, but in the long run felt that the structure became too much of an administrative burden, so she now orchestrates private cleanups, which she says, "are so much easier, and I am so much happier."

River cleanups are held


 

in June and July, with a late-season river cleanup held in September at the south county line near the giant rock outcropping. Kress has developed relationships with all of the landowners who own riverfront property, and as 95 percent of the land is privately owned, she is clear that "we couldn't do this without them." Kress particularly thanks Bob Thornsberry of Empire Waste Management, who has coordinated taking all the trash from the cleanups for the past 19 years.

"Someone should send him on a vacation," says Kress. Thornsberry also handles the provision of dumpsters, porta-potties and the disposal of any toxic materials.

Kress stresses that the river cleanup project is a community effort with tremendous support from business and governmental agencies. She thanks Nita Brake-Mills and Carol Petsch from Cal-Trans, Henry Luna and Dwayne Boggs from Solid Waste, Jordon Main, Amy Shanahan and Tony Shaw from Granite Construction.

"These individuals are key to making the event a success," says Kress.

The Rotary Club's Environmental Stewardship Committee is a newly formed group which will be organizing service projects in the future and providing stewardship awards to deserving community members on a regular basis. Member Kumar Plocher remarks that there has been "so much enthusiasm" in the formation of the committee, whose first project was to nominate Rebecca and present her award.

"The committee developed a 10-person list of nominees in 10 minutes," says member Kevin Doble.

The awards recognize individuals who practice environmental stewardship in their daily lives and receive little recognition from the community. A plaque created by students from the Ukiah High woodshop was presented to Kress, along with a planter created by ceramist Jan Hoyman.

When Kress isn't busy planning for the year's cleanups, she teaches children about storm water discharge and how to be a good steward of our water supply, providing public outreach and education for preschoolers, K-12 classrooms and adults.

"This is one of the most rewarding jobs I've ever had," says Kress. "My goal is to teach kids to teach the grownups. I give kids permission to give their parents a warning and then a time-out' if they see them wasting water," laughs Kress.

Kress has reached celebrity status with her young audiences. "Kids come up to me and say, you're the River Lady,'" says Kress. "They come up and hug me - it's so fulfilling."

"The old adage used to be pave it, pipe it, pollute it,'" says Kress. "Today we say, slow it, spread it, sink it,'" referring to how to best manage water resources.

"In Colorado it is now illegal to catch rain water - a free resource," says Kress. "It is my wish that our county will lead by example and devise the best ways to capture this free, essential resource by enacting conservation methods such as rain gardens, rainwater catchment and green rooftops."

The health of the river is never far from Kress's mind, and even as the photos were taken for this story near the Talmage bridge, Kress observed a group of people walking near the river into private property adjacent to the legal egress area. Kress felt obligated to notify both the landowners and the Mendocino County Sheriffs, who arrived at the scene and had a conversation with the individuals congregating under the Talmage bridge.

"The transient situation is a continual problem that is getting worse," says Kress. "Last year we had to do four cleanups of this area." She is very thankful that local law enforcement has made a commitment to provide periodic visits to the river areas, both to discourage illegal camping and to help to protect the area from the human and toxic waste that percolates into the river and contaminates what will become the community's drinking water.

To date, the cleanup has hauled out 5,848 tires and 100 tons of scrap metal and toxins from the river. But Kress isn't just looking at local water pollution.

"There are two floating pools of plastic in the ocean the size of the United States," says Kress. The North Pacific Gyre is a swirling subtropical current that amasses and holds together this continent of floating garbage, creating an oceanic desert and endangering plant and aquatic life in the region. Kress sees local pollution as a microcosm of disregard for the planet each time she picks up yet another plastic bottle, diaper or cigarette butt carelessly strewn by the river.

"One human being doesn't create a problem," says Kress.

For Charlie Kelly and his fellow Rotarians, there is no doubt they will be back on the river in a few months, doing their part to keep the Russian River pristine. Along with Plocher, Kelly and Doble, committee members Richard Cooper, Paul Holden, Bob Rogers, Rob Schroeder, Jim Sligh, and Francine and Ron Selim will be on the lookout for other stewards to honor in the future. Regarding Kress and the Russian River cleanup, Kelly says, "Sometimes you get a T-shirt, you'll probably get a sunburn, but you'll always get a great feeling of satisfaction."

water drop
Rebecca Kress, Savannah Buckmann, Supervisor Colfax

The Mendocino County Water Agency honored Savannah Buckmann, of Ukiah, on October 22, for the extraordinary work she has done to educate the public on how to keep the creeks, rivers, and ocean free from pollutants caused by stormwater runoff.

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Posted: Mar 13, 2009 10:13pm

 

 
 
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Larry Sheehy
male , single, 4 children
Redwood Valley, CA, USA
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