Here are the pictures we promised you thanks to Jim Dunn who took them

and Ed Gruca who prepared them for us to put on the web.

In the first three we are getting ready to launch our boats at the ramp on
the golf course at Quaker Neck Country Club. The public can use this ramp
for a fee. Just see Carl at the Pro Shop in the Club House.

Here is the group: L/R John Klecker and Cal Hansen from New Bern, Tom
Fineco from River Bend, Jim Niedermeyer from Hubert, Ronnie Dail, Jones,
County Water Dept. who does so much for us, Thanks, Ronnie, Bill Murray
from Pine Knoll Shores, Jim Stevens from New Bern, Elmer Eddy from
Swansboro, Dale Weston from Jacksonville, Scott Brown from Morehead City
Julia Miner from Arapahoe, Hugh Passingham from Maple Hill, Joanne
Somerday from River Bend and Cleo Smith from Raleigh.

Here is Cleo Smith from Raleigh. Cleo and that canoe have been down the
Grand Canyon!

Embarking is under way.

Some lovely palmettos along the way.

Dale Weston. He and Jim Dunn found a plastic barrel which Dale took
home for a friend he knew wanted it. It’s removal sure made the river look
better. Would it have been there for evermore. Will it become a rain barrel?

Jim Niedermeyer and Elmer in the loaded trash barge. The kayaks have to
unload on us.

The take out at Quaker Knoll where Tommy Moore of Moore’s OldeTyme
Barbeque has his Lodge.

Here is the Lodge. The view up and down the Trent is beautiful from the porch.

There is Dale’s barrel and the rest of the trash. We must stop this dumping.
How much more sank? Do we want a river full of trash and broken glass?
Only the public can stop this. If no one litters, there will be no litter. For those
who ignore our anti-litter laws and continue to deliberately dump for their own
convenience, our enforcement personnel must apprehend them and see they
receive punishment according to our laws. The laws have no effect on those
dumping like this unless they are vigorously enforced.

In line at the counter for the feast of barbecued pork, baked chicken,
beans and cole slaw. The frog legs were out on the porch and they were
excellent too. Never had any since my son an I used to get our own.

Looks good doesn’t it? It was too. That is Tommy on the right.

Larry Meadows and retired County Manager and Franky Howard, new County
Manager. I can’t remember the other gentleman’s name. Got to write them
down. Please forgive me.

Jim Stevens in the foreground enjoying his lunch.

Commissioner Sandra Riggs.

Julia and Joanne.

The group munching out.

Some more have joined Sandra. Elmer, Mike Banks on his left, Jimmy Franck,
Commissioner Sandra Riggs, Dale Weston and Hugh Passingham.

Unnamed gentleman, left Frank Howard, Jones County Manager center and
Jeff Bruton from North Carolina Department of Natural Resources right. Jeff
coordinated it all to make it possible for Jones County to get the Grant. We
thank you and NCDNR Jeff. It is great to be able to paddle this fantastic
river mother nature has provided for us all to enjoy again.

Cleo Smith on the steps, Mike Banks on the left and Jimmy Franck at end
of the table and Commissioner Sandra Riggs right.

Tommy Moore and Elmer Eddy. We are inside the huge central room.
Behind us is the deck and a beautiful view of the Trent River.

Never before have we had such luxury and excellent dining on our paddle
trips. We sincerely thank all who made it possible.

Now that I think of it, because we just had a “wish I could be with you” note
from Pam Bader. We did eat our lunch at The Gourmet Restaurant in
Swansboro for Pam and Bob’s going away party.

We will put in here to continue our cleansing of the lovely Trent River on
Monday at 9:30. We will take out at Tar Landing in River Bend. We expect
to be off the river by 3:00.

Just remember to bring your own lunch this time. Please join us if you can.
Everyone is invited.

Elmer Eddy
Elmer, The White Oak River Trashman
Stewards of The White Oak River Basin
101 River Reach Drive West,
Swansboro, NC. 28584
910-389-4588 e-mail: elmer@whiteoakstewards.org
Please visit our website: http://www.whiteoakstewards.org/
“If no one litters, there will be no litter!”

Date Correction! Original posting had a February posting date already gone by!
We are paddling on Monday, March 3rd. Our long range weather forecast says,
“Sunny, 71 degrees” . We can’t pass that up. Come join us. Elmer

THE CLEARING AND CLEANSING OF THE TRENT RIVER, JONES COUNTY’S GREATEST NATURAL ASSET

The Trent River has water! The Neuse River is running out of water at Raleigh due to the drought! How fortunate we are.

Two rain events in the Trent River watershed raised it by three to four feet each time. The USGS gauge near Trenton was above 8 feet for today’s paddle. Come paddle it now!

The Trent is being cleared by a Grant Jones County Commissioners obtained from North Carolina Department of Natural Resources.

It is now clear and unobstructed by fallen trees from Chinquapin Chapel Road bridge, SR 1129,
to New Bern. See Section 3, on page 306 of Paul Ferguson’s “Paddling Eastern NC”. A new unimproved, natural, County access is right there upstream right of the bridge off of SR #1131.
We used it and it is a fine access to the river and a sorely needed one.

We hope this clearing will continue all the way upstream past Pleasant Hill to the Lenoir County line.

Stewards of The White Oak River Basin have paddled the river and cleared it of all trash and litter. Four pick up truck full loads of trash have been removed. They will paddle the river to the Jones County Line as fast as it is cleared for paddling. This will be through Comfort and Pleasant Hill.

The actual clearing was done by J & J Construction & Environmental under the direction and supervision of Larry Meadows, retired Jones County Manager.

February 26th paddle began at Quaker Neck Country Club on Oak Grove Road and ended at Quaker Knoll off Oak Grove Road. This is about 2 and 1/2 miles by road but via the twisting, winding Trent River it is 7.3 miles! And, yes, we removed another pick up truck load of trash as we paddled along.

This trashing of this lovely river has got to stop. Some few are deliberately dumping their discards off the bridges over the river. This practice must be stopped. It is a shame and a disgrace. It is illegal. It is polluting the Trent River!

We are asking Jones County and NCDOT to get together and erect signs at each bridge to stop this evil practice. And also to provide extra surveillance by patrol and by cameras. And then to prosecute by assigning the culprits to 100 hours of trash pick up along our highways.

The important thing to do then is to publicize the conviction widely across the entire State. This it what will curtail these folks with this bad habit of doing it again and deter others also.

Today all involved in this clearing and cleansing were treated to an excellent luncheon at Quaker Knoll on the Trent River. This was an expression of thanks by Jones County . The J ones County Commissioners were there and Jeff Bruton of NCDNR who worked with them to bring the Grant into being attended.

Tommy Moore of Moores Olde Tyme Barbeque prepared the food which was excellent and Jimmy Droze added a special touch by adding frog legs he prepared on the porch.

Some different from our usual lunches! We thank you all!

The setting was Tommy Moore’s beautiful lodge on the Trent River above Pollocksville. To the thousand or more members of the Carolina Canoe Club who live upstate and have no water in your rivers due to the drought here is your chance to get some excellent winter paddling in. Tommy’s lodge can be rented. It sleeps several and is right on the river. His cell phone # is 252-670-3040.

To all, if you wish to read more about this trip and see pictures of the clearing and cleansing of The Trent River and the elegant luncheon at the lodge, please visit our web site: whiteoakstewards.org again as soon as we can get it all on there.

We meet Monday, March 3rd at 9:30 AM at Quaker Knoll on Oak Grove Road, #1121, which is half way between the Marine OLF Air Staion and Rte 17 and is where we took out on our last paddle. If the gate should be please locked wait for me.

For those of you who can please leave shuttle vehicles at our take out at Tar landing in River Bend. Thanks, Elmer

You can see all 90 (!) of Jim’s photos here: http://picasaweb.google.com/elmereddy/20080220TrentRiverJimDunnSPhotos

These pictures are of two strainers on the Trent River which has just been cleared of fallen trees blocking all navigation on this river for years. This river was just cleared to a 15 foot clearance for free passage throuh these fallen trees. These pictures clearly show that this 15 opening is not sufficient in all cases. This river on February was at 3.3 feet at the USGA Chinquapin Chapel Road Gauge. Since then we have had two storm systems. Each one raised the water level over 3 feet. Today the gage was at 9.3 feet.

This section of the Trent River is most enjoyable. It twists and turns and doubles back on itself and has one small and two large islands at this water level which was a little over six feet at the USGS gauge which is mounted at the Chinquapin Chapel Bridge called Free Bridge.

This section is described on page 306 being Section #3 of “Paddling Eastern North Carolina, expanded 2nd edition” by Paul; Ferguson. As the crow flies the distance is 2.4 miles. Paul says 5.5 miles paddling. Cal Hansen’s GPS said 6.5 miles. Our extra mile is due to going from bank to bank to retrieve trash along the shore lines and into the strainers.

Recent rains have raised the water level by three feet. Consequently the high banks are reduced this much which changes everything. So much so it seemed like different river today.

The Trent River is now cleared of obstructions to navigation (blown down trees blocking the river) from Chinquapin Chapel Road, SR # 1129, to its confluence with the Neuse River at New Bern. This is the first time in years that this has been possible.

This opening up of this river to paddling again is because The Jones County Commissioners obtained a Grant to have it so cleared. They hope to obtain more funds to continue this operation all the way to the County Line above Pleasant Hill. We sure hope they do.

Also, Jones County owns the land at the N/W shoulder of the bridge here at the junction of SR 1129 and 1131 all the way to Little Chinquapin Branch. This provides us with a excellent access to The Trent River and we used it today for the very first time. It is now closed off with a locked cable. We hope to get them leave it open at all times as it needs to be for a Public Access.

If you use it and you find the cable locked simply park on the shoulders of SR 1131 and carry or drag your boats to the water.

We had a great trip today. The story and some pictures to follow.

This Joanne Somerday in the parking lot of the Jones County Offices getting ready to taking off.

This is the group L/R, Larry Meadows former Jones County Mgr. and now supervising the clearing of the river, Jim Niedermeyer of Hubert, Dale Weston of Jacksonville, Elmer Eddy of Swansboro, Cal Hansen of New Bern, Ronnie, Water Dept. of Jones County, John Clecker of New Bern, next , Brian Leavy of Rochester, NY, Julia Miner of Araphoe, next next, Tom Fineco of River Bend, Ginny Goodrum of New Bern. Larry Jones of Swansboro is missing and Jim Dunn is taking our picture. We had 10 boats and 12 paddlers.

This is new public, natural put-in which is very good just as it is. No money
has to be spent on this except to cut the grass and bushes.

Joanne taking off.

Larry Jones under way. That is the Chinquapin Chapel Road bridge.

Ronnie Dail seeing Joanne off.

Everybody is getting underway. Julia had a little accident got a little wet.

We are off and heading down stream.

Larry made the first trash kill.

This is a strainer which collects trash. Taking three of us to clean it.

Plenty of wood left in the river for the micro and macro invertebrates!

Lunch stop.

Joanne and Elmer. We always check each others lunches. She had a peanut
butter and miniature chocolate kisses sandwich. I had beef stew.

Cal, John and Brian.

Coming up on Route 58 bridge.

Pretty river view. Good water. Somewhat turbid due to storm water run off.

Dale with a boat load of trash.

Jim and Elmer with a boat load of trash. We in canoes become trash barges
for the kayakers.

Debarking and unloading.

Ginnie didn’t have to be towed this trip. We had good flow from one to two
miles per hour.

Dale picked a tough spot to get out!

Jim and Elmer loaded
with trash.

We got it all unloaded and on shore.

The trash filled up Lonnie’s pick up truck. We sure appreciate Lonnie taking
it for us and running our shuttle. That saved us beaucoup time.

It is a shame and a disgrace that people disobey our laws and dump their
trash off bridges into this beautiful river. Our leaders need to enforce our
litter laws and get this evil process stopped.

The river has been cleared of fallen trees to here. We have one more section
to clear it of trash from Wilcox Bridge, Middle Road, SR # 1300 to the Thomas
Waller farm where we put in earlier.

Maybe we can do that next week.

Thanks to Jim Dunn and Joanne for the pictures and thanks to Ed Gruca for
setting them up for me to get on the internet. Elmer

That is Doug Toltzman with his camera mounted on a tripod to record a video

which is already on our web site. He is on Joanne Somerday’s boat which is

appropriately named “Summer Day”. Sorry, that picture disappeared and the one

below is: L/R Julia Minor form Araphoe, Jim Niedermeyer from Hubert, Hugh

Passingham from Jacksonville, Elmer Eddy from Swansboro, Brian Leavy from

Rochester, NY, John Clecker from New Bern, Dale Weston from Jacksonville and

Tom Fineco from River Bend. We are at Tar Landing on the Trent River in River

Bend. This is exactly where we met Tom in 2003 and he has been paddling with us

ever since.

Here is Doug with tripod and Capt, Joanne Somerday of River Bend at the helm.

Here is Tom Fineco snoozing waiting for us to get going.

This is Hugh Passingham ready to go.

Here is Julia Miner always in the lead

This is Dale Weston, leading Trashman of the New River. One time he came in with a safe!

That is Jim Niedermeyer. He had to get out of the canoe to get what ever piece of trash
it was.

Here we are coming out of Muddy Creek back to the Trent River.

This is as far as we could get up Muddy Creek due to the obstructions you see in the water.

Tom Fineco found some piece of trash over there. The reflection is the water is more
beautiful than the forest. Tom rippled the waters a little.

Our trash for the day. River Bend Water Department personnel picked it up for us. We thank
you very much. Julia took a wicker chair home with her. All we find is not trash. Especially
the footballs, tennis balls, soccer balls, basketballs, soft balls, baseballs, golf balls, volley
balls, beach balls, ping-pong balls and all kinds of floats for fishing, daubers, etc.

Ed Gruca found a wooden Cowboy fully dressed one time. We brought in a tire this time
which does not show in the picture.

Hugh packing up and checking out at the Marina.

Loading the boats at the Marina. We had to drive back to Tar landing to get our cars. We had
planned to paddle back but strong winds gusting to 35 to 40 miles per hour changed our minds.

Dale securing his canoe.

All of the above pictures were taken by Jim Dunn of Maple Hill. Thanks a million Jim. And
we have to thank Ed Gruca who is in Richmond for preparing them so I could get them on our
web site.

Because our trip was cut short by the wind we were invited to Joanne Somerday’s lovely home
at Pier Pointe in River Bend for lunch. Never before have we ever had such a luxourios setting
for our lunch stop. Thanks Joanne and pat Blacky for us all. When are his kittens due?

Thanks to Doug Toltzman for the video. He passed up paddling with us to do it . The video
is on our site. And thank you, Joanne, Capt. of “Summerday” for making it all possible.

Every trip is different. This one was very different and also most enjoyable and we left the
waters clean behind us.

Elmer Eddy
Elmer, The White Oak River Trashman
Stewards of The White Oak River Basin
101 River Reach Drive West,
Swansboro, NC. 28584
910-389-4588 e-mail: elmer@whiteoakstewards.org
Please visit our website: http://www.whiteoakstewards.org/
“If no one litters, there will be no litter!”

The above is a link to a video by Doug Toltzman of our trip on River Bend waters on The Trent River. The side Creek we went up was Muddy Creek. Elmer

Her is the link:

http://www.oakstreetsoftware.com/~doug/feb12m.php