Volunteers encouraged to contact site coordinators early for Friends of Pool 9 Mississippi River Pool 9 Clean-Up April 24

Friends of Pool 9 (FOP9) will be hosting its Pool 9 Mississippi River Clean-Up Saturday, April 24 from 8 a.m. to 12 Noon. There will be no mass meetings of individuals at the Lansing VFW building or elsewhere, as in year’s past, and there will not be a lunch following the clean-up. All volunteers are required to sign the 2021 Friends of Pool 9 Release of Liability form before participating in the event.

Collection sites include both on-foot by vehicle and on the water by boat. On-foot collection includes shoreline areas and boat landings on both sides of the river. Sites cleaned by boat include Upper-Pool areas launching at Visgers, New Albin Army Road and Black Hawk Park; Mid-Pool areas launching at De Soto and Lansing, or Lower-Pool areas out of Ferryville, Lynxville or Heytmans. Because of COVID protocol, individuals are asked to register early and not gather in large groups at any collection/registration site. All volunteers must sign the form and those under 18 years of age must have a parent’s signature as well.

Volunteers will be provided with gloves, garbage bags and water. Debris may be deposited at any of the other landings in Pool 9 and will be loaded and transported to one of the above-mentioned dumpsters. Volunteers with pick-ups or other trucks will be needed to transport debris.

“Volunteers should contact site coordinators by phone well in advance of the April 24 clean-up date to complete the Release of Liability Form, determine their collection area, and receive other necessary collecting items,” FOP9 leaders shared.

Those collection site coordinators are as follows:

• Jerry Boardman (608-648-3588) or Mandi Boardman (608-317-2751) for volunteers from De Soto to clean the Highway 82 dike and area landings
• Lisa Welsh (563-568-7302) for young adults along the Highway 82 dike and Big Slough landing
• Bruce ReVoir (563-568-7358) will meet volunteers at the Lansing VFW waterfront, along with Bob Henkel (563-538-4864) and Alex Galema (563-538-4385), to clean the area backwaters
• Mike Conway (563-568-8132) for volunteers at the Lansing VFW waterfront
• Larry Quamme (608-734-9077) or John Mitchell (608-317-8004) will meet volunteers at the Ferryville landing
• Mark Schneden (608-412-0483) for the Lynxville landing
• Kevin Quillin (563-568-9334) or Blake Schoh (563-419-7546) for cleaning area beaches and fire rings
• John Verdon (608-317-3777) or Darus Spingler (608-632-3736) for boats launching at Black Hawk Park
• Sue English (563-382-9561) will help organize cleaning the Lansing Marina dike, Conservation Parks or other landings
• Joe Mazanec (608-769-4833) or Darrin Thran (608-606-6049) will be in charge of debris transport from sites
• Al Wuennecke (563-544-4236) will organize volunteers for the New Albin area, Visigers and Army Road landing
• Sam Miller (319-269-6805) or Pat Murphy (319-233-1235) at Heytman’s landing.

“Predictions show relatively normal water conditions for Pool 9 during the month of April with lower than normal flooding,” FOP9 leaders noted. “We look forward to your involvement in this community event to clean the 90 square miles of Pool 9.”