PRINTOn the Job: River Conservationist
CHRISTIE MEGURA
Jeff Barrow has been working with Missouri River Relief since 2001 and became the Director of Missouri River Relief in 2009. Barrow works with a variety of volunteers to cleanup the Missouri river.
April 7, 2011 | 12:00 a.m. CST
Be gone, garbage-infested water. Jeff Barrow, director of Missouri River Relief, takes hundreds of volunteers on river cleanups across the state. This nature guru has a passion for changing littering habits and for getting all the nasty out of Missouri’s waterways.
How long have you been involved with Missouri River Relief?
I have been involved since it started in 2001. I was with the group before it was a group. I was an avid canoeist on the Missouri River who loved camping out there.
What does the organization do?
Our mission is to take people on the river so that they have a connection to it to make the river a better environment. We do that with hands-on activities such as tree planting and habitat restoration along the river corridor, but the main thing we do is community-based cleanup.
How do the cleanups work?
We pick a site, and then we’ll recruit anywhere from 20 to 300 volunteers for a single day and take them out on the river to collect all the trash from the banks and islands and pile it up on the shore to haul away. We’ll take 150 people out, and in three hours they will have collected 10 tons.
What’s the most memorable encounter you’ve had with a volunteer?
This girl was about 10, and she went out on the river with her grandfather. When we were bringing them back for lunch, she said this was the best day of her life. A 10-year-old girl saying picking up trash was the best day she could remember was really cool.
What kinds of things do you find in the river?
The main thing that we find is plastic bottles. It’s unbelievable the variety of things you find, even things like kitchen sinks, bathtubs, stoves, washers and dryers. Refrigerators float really well. I’m also surprised at how many messages in bottles we find. We try to contact the person if they leave a number or email, but they rarely respond. One of the most unusual things I have ever found is an upright piano.
If you could travel to any river in the world, which would you choose?
I would like to go to the Yukon River in Alaska during the summer. I’ve heard that the sunsets will last for hours. The sun will set and turn right into dawn. I could just float down the river and enjoy hours of sunrises and sunsets.
NAME: Jeff Barrow
AGE: 54
COMO RESIDENT SINCE: 1992
AT JOB SINCE: 2009
CONTACT: 443-0292
ONLINE: www.riverrelief.org
What do you hope to accomplish by taking volunteers to clean the river?
I think my main goal is to spend time on the river, experience it and share that with other people. It’s satisfying to take people on the river for their first time, to see that through new eyes and hear a fresh perspective. Ultimately, I’m hoping that by sharing my love for the river, other people will want to protect it and make it better.
Why are local rivers important?
It’s important to take care of our homes. These streams are places where kids explore and learn about the world. Life depends on water, and even if you don’t see a direct connection between the ditch in your backyard and what comes out of your faucet, it’s all connected. There’s something spiritual about water.
