Waterway Stewards

The above gauge is on Quinpapin Chapel Rd off Rte 41 between Rte 58 and
Comfort. It is at the bridge on the north east shoulder. The water is still very
high.There was very little wind and wherever the water was absolutely calm
the reflections of the trees in the water were absolutely gorgeous.

This is our put in at Trenton Wildlife ramp On Landfil Road.. The river is high
with good flow. Water level is down about ten feet from the crest of the recent
flood. The water covered the road in the distance past the black car. In fact,
at the high point it was up to Rte 41 on Landfill Road. NCDOT moved all their
equipment out.

The trees were just beginning to change to show their fall colors.

We had excellent full sunshine with temperature in the low 80s.

Great camoflage! The blue eyes gave it away! We also saw one deer and
another time we heard a whole herd splashing through the high water.

Here are the blue eyes.

This is what we call a “strainer”. It is caused by trees falling into the river.

A buzzard looking us over!

Scott and I were in the first boat and the reflections here excellent before
we rippled the water.

This is at a little park in a subdivision at the end of Paul Road off of Spann
Loop Road

We ate lunch here on an octagonal picnic table. That is JIm Morris  of Morehead City
on the left, Ed Gruca of Richmond and Emerald Isle next. Ed set the camera up and
ran up and got in the picture. Scott Brown of Morehad City in the rear, Elmer Eddy
from Trenton, next right and Harry Paterson from Jacksonville next right rear with
with George Spelth from Wilmington in front.

Getting back oe the water.

A blown down tree. There were a great many of them. With the leaves still on
they further obstruct the flow of water in the river. The total affect of all of
these probably raises the water level by a foot or more. All of these fallen
trees should be removed bank to bank.

Coming up for air.

Scott’s turn to get down.

This fellow is best left alone.He is swimming across the river.

This one hitched a ride in Jim’s canoe and stayed up front for most of the trip!
Prettiest snake we ever saw!

This is Jim Morris with his pickup truck loaded with the five bags we
picked up today. This trash was hung up in “strainers” cause by blown
down trees in the river. Jim voluntarily goes the extra mile and takes
all the trash home with him. He then recycles what qualifies and goes to
the dump with the rest. He had a broken rake and a gas can in addition
to the bags. Gret work, JIm! Ed Gruca took home with him an 8 foot
step ladder that looked brand new.

It was agreat day on the water today and especially nice to be
able to paddle almost with out obstructions. This will not last long.

As the water level drops more and more obstructions will appear. All
of these need to be removed ASAP. We hope a grant will make this
possible.

We also hope the grant will be written so money will be assigned to
remove each new blown down tree immediately so the river (road)
will be useable again. Elmer

2010-09-20 Blue Creek and the New River Jacksonville, NC

This trip is upstream of Routes 17 and 24 in Jacksonville, NC. Thanks to
Leo Schmidt of Emerald Isle it was conducted by motorboat instead of
our usual canoes and kayaks. This is more efficient as you will see.
The principle reason for the trip was to pick up all trash as we always do.
By coincidence Amanda Hickey, , had just done
this same trip but she and her group were on a mission to determine where
signs should be placed along this Canoe Trail. They also launched their boats
at McCallister Landing on Rhodestown Road and paddled downstream.
The last two paragraphs of Amanda’s article, “Paddling Into Peace” were
devoted to trash in the river. Well, Amanda, the trash has been picked
up and the river is clean and its beauty is unmarred by the ugly trash as
far as we could go. We hit a rocky bottom just before McCallister Landing.
A secondary reason for our trip was to measure salinity in the river at
various points. Our first reading was at the ramp at Marina Cafe. It was 12
PPT (Parts Per Thousand) which is enouogh to kill alligatorweed. DaleWeston
from Jacksonville sat up front in the boat. He recorded all readings and
wrote them down at their GPS cordinates.
The salinity at the dock and at this picture which is on the western shoreline
just above the ramp was high enough to kill alligatorweed. These readings
will vary with the volume of fresh water coming down the river. Right now
the gauge at Northwest Bridge Road is at 3 cubic feet per second. It lists the
all time Minimum at 3.9, in 1968, the Median at 34, the Mean at 108 and the
Max at 1680 in 1955! Click on this to see for yourself if you are interested.

USGS 02093000 NEW RIVER NEAR GUM BRANCH, NC

Another partial kill here. 2nd weed patch:

Onslow County Soil and Water Conservation Division headed by Bill Morris has been
spaying with a chemical spray that is systemic and kills the entire plant. This winter
we hope he and his men will be working with us to take advantage of the winter kill
and the strong currents to get every bit of this horrible, foreign, invasive weed down to salt water where it cannot live.
These next three were floating free out in the middle of the river from
the ramp.They all indicate a partial kill. GPS reading is:

Wherever the water was deep enough we took surface readings and a
second reading at between 4 and five feet:
Sorry, I accidentally deleted the reading for this one
The deeper readings all indicated a higher salinity.

Alligatorweed hung up behind a strainer partially killed. This was at the
mouth of Blue Creek. As we went up Blue Creek we got a real surprise.
The water became alive with thousands of little fish. We suppose they
are menhaden recently hatched. They were under our boat and the water
boiled with them as they fled toward the shoreline to get away from us.
They were present in the New River too but not so obvious.

This is the fancy, elegant access and launching device up Blue Creek.
Access is via Oakhurst Park off Routes 24/258. Sgns are on the road.

This large mass of alligatorweed is doubling its total mass every three weeks.

Another propagating nursery for alligatorweed.

This is a beautiful home up Blue Creek with a channel off Blue Creek and,
yes, there are two bright green masses of alligatorweed in this little channel.

Dale up front in the boat

In all these shots I was trying to get a picture of a white, juvenile blue heron.

Maybe he is in there somewhere but I can’t find him.

He lead us all the way down Blue Creek Now we are srarting up the New
River and he is still leading us.

This is Leo. That bird could be in thisi picture too.

A mixed dying and growing mass of alligatorweed. At one place like this
there was a bright, fresh green mass of alligatorweed that must have just
come from upstream. It was hung up in front. We loosened it with the hoe
handle. It all hung together and floated away with the outgoing tide.
We placed some light trash on it. If you come across it downstream please
let us know.

There is a beautiful pure white flower here at right center.

Some weed dead, some dying, some growing.

More of the same.

Bag worms have probably killed this huge tree. Fishing should be good here.

A beautiflul bush of yellow flowers. This is the same flower that exists at
the Canoe Trail begining in the little pond at Steed’s Park on Cowhorn Rd.

The three of us at the ramp with our day’s collection of trash. those four
bags are full! Leo is taking it to the dump.

I arrived early and I took a salinity reading right behind where we are on
the ramp. It read 12 which is high enough to kill alligatorweed.

We had to turn around where we stopped going upstream due to a shallow
rocky bottom which damaged the propeller. This is the lowest flow ever
according to the USGS gauge. We used to see springs in this area flowing
cold, clear water into the New River. They were coming from the aquifer.
Perhaps the flow is reversed now and the New River is flowing into the
aquifer and replenishing it! As salt water is heavier than fresh water could
salt water be intruding our aquifer?

A great and beautiful day on the water we all enjoyed it very much. Elmer
Some observations about alligatorweed.

These views are not those of all Waterway Stewards:

#1. It is killed whenever it is exposed to freezing weather. This includes

that portion that is actually frozen in surface water. Stems and roots that

are below the ice are not frozen and remain alive. In fact, they sprout with

new leaf growth every tme we have three or four warm days of warm weather

which happens in North Carolina every winter.

This winter kill should be taken full advantage of as this kill has reduced the

total mass by close to 50%. The above water growth if in open water tends

to fall over on itself when it attains two feet in height. If supported by

overhanging branches or blown down trees it will grow and stay taller where

it is hung up. It is dies too when the water level goes down and it is

exposed to the colder air.

The under water stems and roots remain alive and sprout new growth

at the very first appearance of warm weather. They may even grow slowly too

all winter. They grow into intertwoven masses. The under water stems and

roots grow up to eight feet long. The whole mass hangs together and can be

moved intact with rakes, pitch forks and grapple hooks. The current takes over

and the hole mass is on its way to death in salt water.

#2. The current in the river is usually running 24/7. We should also take

advantage of this. The rate of flow and the volume varies tremendously

depending on the weather. Tides also affect it where there is tidal water.

Right after heavy rains we should be on the river freeing

all alligatorweed that is hung up on anything. The current

will vary from one to five miles per hour depending on the

terrain. This fast moving water will carry tons of alligatorweed

rapidly downstream to death in salt water. We just need to

help it along when it gets hung up in strainers.

Many of these strainers are blown down trees that should be

removed anyway.
It is now September 28. Our rains have finally come. The gauge
on the New River rose yesterday from 2 feet to over 9 feet!
This is bound to be moving tons of alligatorweed downstream.
The remnants of a tropical storm are to visit us this Thursday.
Unfortunately I cannot get on the river to observe what is taking.
place. It is raining very hard again right now here in Trenton.
I hope some of you can get on the river and report with your
observations and pictures. Thanks, Elmer

This is the Fair Grounds where Jim Morris and I launched our canoes. You get
there by going two blocks north from the traffic light in Trenton and turning left.

This is the actual launching site. It is a drafting point for the Fire Department
so do not block the entrance. Park well away.

Jim Morris from Morehead City. We have unloaded or canoes and moved
our vehicle well away from the access.

We mounted our Canoe Trail sign provied by ACA and LLBean.

An unusual flower along the shore of Brock Mill Pond.

More of the same.

This Jon Park formerly of upper New York State and now living in Jacksonville.
His parents just bought a house on Brock Mill Pond. That is duck weed on the
surface as we went up Crooked Run Creek.

This is the end of our run up Crooked Run Creek. We need to bring a chain
saw next trip to paddle up further into this wilderness.

That is not a dug-out. It is the bark fallen off of a cypress.

Thanks to Ed Gruca for the pics and helping to get them ready for posting!  Thanks also to Paula Gillikin, Director  of  the Sanctuary who came out and guided us and provided photos. This was a great trip on a great day and was most enjoyable. We will be going back again and again until we can say this Sanctuary is cleared of all trash and litter as it should always be.

The  participants today were Ed Gruca of Emerald Isle, Dale Weston of Jacksonville, Scott Brown and Jim Morris of  Morehead City and Elmer Eddy of Trenton. Thanks, to all, Elmer.

Egrets, Horses, and Ibis……..residents of Rachel Carson Reserve

This is the spoils island where they pump the dredged material from the harbor to be used later to restore the beaches. There is a huge lake in the middle of it. It isn’t The Grand Canyon but you get that same sensation when you look down into it. This is pretty unique in Eastern North Carolina.

Here is a map of our trip today. It was an eventful day. I started off without my cell phone. I turned around and went back home to get it. My son phoned the others and they were waiting for me over an hour late.

From 11th Street we started out for the nearest point of Brandt Island after we rounded the western point of Sugarloaf Island. White caps were everywhere.  A much stronger west wind than predicted was blowing. The tide was running out
fast.

So, we headed straight for Fishing Creek. Those red dots on the map are wrong.  There is no entrance to Fishing Creek where the map shows. We found it way down further about where the “g” is in Tar Landing Bay.

We were concerned about the tide running out and leaving us stranded in the marshes.We know from experience that one cannot paddle through the maze of these marshes at low tide.

Well, we made it through without having to back paddle once. Here we are at the mouth if Fishing Creek at Tombstone Point The tide was still rushing out of Fishing Creek. Look at the huge delta it has formed along Morehead Channel.

This is Tom Fineco with a bag of that trash. Tom is from River Bend near New Bern. He has been a Steward for over 10 years.

Lunch time on the beach just above Fishing Creek. That is Elmer Eddy from Trenton on the left, Juddith Gruca from Richmond center and Dale Weston from Jacksonville on the right.

Here are Tom an Dale stuffing a collapsible boat in our trash barge.

Dale and Judith. Juddith had been paddling with her father. Now I am in a kayak!.

And, Tom Fineco is now towing the trash barge.  This is along Sugarloaf Island which gave us some protection from the strong S/W wind. The closer we got to 11th Street the harder the paddling. We all made safely about an hour later than planned.

We unloaded our boats of the trash and carried it all up to the trash can in the parking area. We left the inflatable boat there too.

The public is cordially invited to participate in both. We are committed to clean up The Rachel Carson Sanctuary no matter how many trips it may take.

Thanks,

Elmer

These three pictures are of the trash Leo Schmidt and Elmer Eddy picked up on this trip. There are seven and one half full bags there plus a few miscellaneous items.

We Stewards had picked up this trash several years ago. We were overloaded on that tip and had to unload it on the shore to continue on
the planned trip. We were told it had been picked up but as you can see it never was.

The bags were pretty well eaten up by the sunshine and we had to re bag it all again!

Leo and I were the only ones that showed up. The water was too low for us to get into Everett Creek so we went to our favorite clamming area and loaded up.

Elmer

His added weight seemed to stabilize our canoe and actually made
paddling easier. Cal towed Paul’s kayak We paddled around the point and
entered Wards Creek.

We ate lunch on a sandy beach just before South Leonard Creek. We
paddled past South and North Leonard Creeks and coasted in to our
takeout at Wards Creek bridge, a very nice natural take out access on
the northeast side of the bridge.

Every trip is different. This one was more so. Al Morris is checking out
a possible access for us in Goose Bay. He will plan a trip for us and we
hope it will include the two Leonard Creeks and the section of Wards
Creek above Rte 70 bridge if possible.

To  all who paddled on this trip please send me your pictures for posting here.

Thanks, Elmer

2010 Bogue Sound

Elmer dragging his clam rake.

Renovated Coast Guard Station

Coast Guard advises Elmer they cannot allow us to use their picnic table

This is a view, looking East, of the changes at old Bogue Inlet. The houses at the right were once only a few feet

from a 25 foot deep channel threatening their homes. The new Bogue Inlet is a few hundred yards West.

Boat parts washed up from the wreck of the Snow White

This is the Snow White at the dock in Beaufort June 3, 2010. Maybe the last photo!

Now she is litter for the Stewards

Snow White in the bags

Elmer says a big Thank You to Leo Schmidt for bringing his boat

Leo said this was the last day for his long hair!!

A lone egret digesting a days catch of finger mullet

Elmer and Jim attempt to cross the ICW

Loading up

Cleaning up

Link to

2010-07-08 Bogue Sound Roll & Rescue

http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AfKePrEndAEKZGdmcTM1c2ZfNTQ5MmY0anRobWc4&hl

This is Cpl Jones a Combat Photographer for the Globe who accompanied Elmer
Eddy of Trenton and Leo Schmidt of Emerald Ilse in his motor boat. She took
pictures and interviewed participants on all seven trips except the Scales
Creek trip as they were way up the creek as we went by the entrance.

Who is the buffalo and who is she?

Whose back is this?

Francine Popkin and Tess Saunders, White Oak-New Riverkeeper wearing a Pitt hat loaned

by Ed Gruca for the day.

Capt. Orlando Chaparro, Deputy Director of the Environmental Management
Division aboard Camp Lejeune, who handled all the planning and details on
the Camp Lejuene end and Elmer Eddy of Waterway Stewards who did the
same on the civilian side.

This is the put in at Tarawa Terrace on Northeast Creek. This shot and
the next three were taken from the bucket truck by Cpl Jones, Combat
Photographer. These paddlers are doing Paddle Trails #1 and #2. #1
paddlers went east and #2 went west.

Steve and Allen of the Power Company were very gracious in taking
Cpl Jones up in their bucket. They were istalling solar panels to power
the flood light at the ramp.

That is Ed Gruca of Richmond and Emerald Isle who is The Stewards
photographer on this trip for Canoe Trail #1 on Northeast Creek. .

I think that is Joanne Someday, trip leader int my sigle canoe and
Marine Donte in her kayak.

Marines Armando and Donte head up the creek along the north shore
toward the Rte 24 bridge.

Donte Simmons is getting the hang of it

Marine, Armando Martinez, learns quickly

April Clark from Swansboro discovers a bed headboard. We left it for
the Mother Ship but they did not get it so we picked it up on the way back.

Paddlers gather around the Mother Ship piloted by Leo Schmidt with
Elmer aboard to off load from the kayaks.

Cpl Jones gets Armando and Donte picking up litter.

Marine Donte looks at home in Joanne’s kayak.

They are rocking now.

Marrie Donte at a Cable Crossig sign.

A fallen red cedar tree.

Lunch stop at the RT 24 bridge.

There was a lot of trash under the bridge.

April and Armando trashing under the bridge. We picked up several bags of trash here.

Sadly, there were at least 20 tires on the other side near the gas station.

Donte is loaded.

So is April.

Joanne Somerday, using Elmer’s small canoe collected everyone’s bag.

The old railroad bridge which is now a bike and walking trail.

Here is Joanne with a canoe full of litter.

Phil Guardino told us he had 18 days left in the Marines. So where did he get this shirt???

We have no idea! Good luck Phil in Law Enforcement. Has Ed pulled
some trick photography here?

Heading back to Tarawa Terrace dock.

This green heron was curious about my whistle and emerged from hiding.

Ed Gruca with the headboard picked up on the way back. Good thing we
were paddling directly into the wind when it kicked up briefly.

The two Northeast Creek groups and their collection of trash.

Armando holding what we believe once belonged to an alligator.

This photo was taken from high above in the bucket truck by Marine photographer.

As published in The Globe April 29, 2010 Edition.

http://www.camplejeuneglobe.com/e-edition/ page D09

That is Elmer on the dock. Joanne Somerday to the right and

Ed Gruca getting ready to shove off April Clark.

seven days to do without the Marines.

Thank you Mainres who volunteered. And thank you
Capt Chaparro and Cpl Jones. And thank all you Stewards.

All of you who participated automatically become Waterway
Stewards.We have no dues, no officers, and no meetings.

The only meetings are when we meet on the water to paddle
and pick up trash wherever we paddle.

If you want to get notices of all trips plesae send us your
e-mail address and we will add you to our address book.

You can even start a small group where you live and do the
same thing for your local waters.

We plan to continue cleaning up all waters in Camp Lejeune
as we have for the past nine years. We hope to have many
volunteer Marines as swe did today. Thanks, Elmer