DNR to Unveil River Trash Sculpture on Earth Day

Talkin' Trash - DNR to Unveil River Trash Sculpture on Earth Day

What was once an eyesore is now becoming an object of beauty. Trash dredged from the Winnebago, Shell Rock and Cedar rivers last August by hundreds of volunteers on the DNR's annual Project AWARE river cleanup event will be celebrated on Earth Day - not as trash, but as art.

On April 22, the public is invited to view the sculpture from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the main lobby atrium of the Wallace State Office Building, 502 East 9th Street, in Des Moines. Artist David Williamson and DNR staff will be available to greet visitors, answer questions, and most importantly, gather public input to complete the project.

Rather than a finished piece, the unveiling will reveal a sculpture-in-progress, and public input is requested to complete the final transformation of the trash into finished sculpture. As a collaborative effort amongst cleanup volunteers, everyday citizens, and artist David Williamson, more public input is needed before this metamorphosis can be complete.

"Due to the collaborative nature of this project, we encourage visitors to join us on Earth Day to add their thoughts," Williamson said. "With the sculpture about 60 percent complete, this is a great opportunity to welcome public input and the exchange of ideas that are so crucial to this type of project."

As part of a multi-year project known as The River Gates of Project AWARE, the sculpture is not only an interpretive piece that honors the work of volunteers, promotes environmental stewardship, and tells the story of Project AWARE, but it has also been designed for use as a security gate for the DNR building at the Iowa State Fair.

Along with the sculpture, music created through a similar collaborative effort will also be performed, and sculptures from previous years of Project AWARE will be on display.
For more information, please visit http://www.iowaprojectaware.com/ or contact Brian Soenen at Brian.Soenen@dnr.iowa.gov or (515) 205-8587.

Cleanup Project will Tackle Cedar River

Project A.W.A.R.E. is an Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) effort designed to lead Iowans to the natural waterways of the state and to engage them in efforts to cleanup the environment.

The AWARE objectives include:

• Increasing awareness about water quality issues that threaten the health of Iowa's water resources and promote advocacy and action towards their improvement and protection.
• Engaging Iowa's citizen volunteers in a project that challenges them to become stewards of the river and produces a tangible, quantitative result (numbers of citizens involved and quantity of trash removed, recycled, reused, or properly disposed).
• Demonstrating the commitment of Iowa's citizens by giving of themselves and their valuable time to make a difference - one stretch of river, one piece of trash at a time.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources has announced that this year's cleanup project will help spruce up an 86-mile stretch of the Cedar River from Center Point to Muscatine.

This is the seventh annual Project AWARE. Hundreds of volunteers are expected to turn out for the cleanup project from June 20 to June 27. During the expedition, volunteers use canoes and kayaks to float down the river and pick up trash along the way.

Some volunteers also take part in land-based projects. Organizers said Project AWARE has enlisted more than 1,200 participants to clean up nearly 500 miles of Iowa's rivers.

Check out the DNR Project AWARE Web Site for more information.