Cleaning up the river: Spokane Riverkeeper ramps up river floats to pick up trash

Jule Schultz saw something in a tree on the edge of the Spokane River across from People’s Park.

“Can we get that?” he said, sitting in the front of a raft with a metal trash platform hanging off the back.

Liv Kindl rowed into a back eddy under the tree, holding the raft in place while Schultz leaned out to grab the tattered piece of white plastic.

“I think it’s a tarp,” Schultz said, then looked around. “Oh, there’s more over there. Should I get this? Might as well.”

He walked onto the bank, picked up more litter and brought it into the boat. Then Kindl rowed back into the current and the duo continued down the river, looking for their next stop.

The hunt for trash is routine for Kindl and Schultz, staffers at the Spokane Riverkeeper. Schultz, the group’s program director, began leading river cleanups and floating the river semi-regularly to pick up trash after starting with the Riverkeeper nine years ago.

Now it’s Kindl’s domain. She started with the Riverkeeper as an intern in January and was eventually hired full time, with the help of a two-year grant. She’s now the group’s cleanup lead, and for the past several months, she’s been rowing down the river at least a few times a week.

“I have every now and then a 600- to 700-pound boat day,” Kindl said.

Floating multiple times a week is new for the Riverkeeper, making their presence on the river more frequent and more consistent. It’s also one piece of a larger effort between the Riverkeeper and the Spokane River Forum over the past few years to boost their litter pickup efforts, after deciding the river needed attention year-round.

Instead of having a few big cleanup days a year, the two organizations have expanded the opportunities available to volunteers on 29 miles of the river, from Stateline to Riverside State Park. They started a website where people can sign up for public cleanups or ask for help in organizing cleanups of their own, and they’ve boosted the float program.

The benefits show in the numbers. So far this year, through 80 cleanups and with the help of more than 1,800 volunteers, the organizations have hauled more than 39,000 pounds of trash off the river.

“Never in my imagination did I think we’d have over 1,000 volunteers picking up 35,000 pounds of trash,” said Andy Dunau, executive director of the Spokane River Forum. “It’s really a testament to the community and how much they care about the river.”

The increase in effort coincides with a rise in the number of unhoused people in Spokane, and in turn, the number of people living in encampments along the river. The city of Spokane’s Code Enforcement office has crews picking up litter daily, in city parks and along the river.

Jason Ruffing, the code enforcement supervisor, said he expects his staff will total somewhere around 900,000 or 1 million pounds of trash this year, which makes the Riverkeeper’s haul sound puny.

But Ruffing said their work certainly helps, and that it’s not only about how much trash, but about where it is.

“There are so many locations along the river that are very hazardous and dangerous for our crew to access,” Ruffing said.

That’s where the trash raft comes in. The Riverkeeper uses it to target garbage that can’t be reached any other way.

On a recent Thursday, as Kindl and Schultz floated from Redband Park to TJ Meenach Bridge, they bypassed a few piles of trash that could be reached by trails, thinking either volunteers or code enforcement staff would be able to take care of it later.

Instead, they bounced between beaches and back eddies accessible only by boat, filling their trash bags and loading bigger items onto the boat’s metal platform.

When they stopped at a homeless encampment, they were careful to make sure it wasn’t being actively used before taking things like blankets or tents. When they met people living on the river, they handed out trash bags and gave simple instructions: fill the bag, leave it somewhere visible, and on the next float, it will get picked up.

Along the way, they enjoyed the eye candy – leaves changing colors, trout rising to mayflies, big crayfish prowling the river bottom.

Trip after trip, they pass many of the same landmarks. The oldest United States Geological Survey stream gauge in the state. A boat ramp that’s punctured a few tires. An engine block rusting away midstream, a callback to an era when the river was treated differently.

“The river used to be our garbage dump,” Schultz said.

That view has changed somewhat over the years. Now, fishing guides take anglers down the river. Tubers soak up the sun in the summertime. Paddleboarders and kayakers cruise the flat water.

Organizations are looking for ways to give the public more access to the river, too, with ideas for new boat and paddle board put-ins. More people on the river is a good thing – the more people who connect to the river, the more they’ll want to help take care of it, Kindl said.

They’ve already found plenty of people who do want to take care of it. This is the third consecutive year they’ve had more than 1,000 volunteers help them clean up the river.

“The public loves this river, and they want to help clean it up,” Schultz said. “That momentum in our community is huge right now.”

By the end of the float, the trash platform was full, piled a few feet high. There was a busted orange barrel, a rubber mat, a piece of metal that resembled a bus seat, and at least a half-dozen full trash bags. An orange net held it all in place as they trailered the boat.

They estimated the total at 275 pounds – a decent day.

They stored the trash at a closed parking lot near TJ Meenach Bridge. A truck would come pick it up later.

The next day, Kindl was expecting to be back on the river with a crew of volunteers. There would definitely be more trash to pick up.

Schultz said that sometimes makes the work feel like a losing battle – there’s always more to pick up, and not enough time. But he still feels like their work is worthwhile.

“It’s not a losing battle. We’re making noticeable progress on the issue,” he said. “The numbers speak for themselves, that we are removing a ton of trash.”