In Your Nature

Can things that don’t matter make a difference?

Photo Credit: Rasha McChesney

From September 1998 through September 2017, I developed and led an effort facetiously called the “Skunk River Navy”. I had lots of help. The goal was to give first-year Iowa State University biology students hands-on interactions with local biodiversity (primarily benthic macroinvertebrates), while allowing them to work together to make a positive contribution to their local community. Over those 20 years we did 51 “trash patrols” involving about 2,400 first year ISU biology, as well as other, students. Friends, colleagues, and local community members also participated. All together we removed over 80 tons of trash from about 30 miles of our local streams – the South Skunk River and Ioway Creek. We used canoes as trash barges (our “naval vessels”) and hauled out beer cans, plastic bags, tires, barbed wire, bicycles, washing machines, recliners, 50-gallon barrels, tennis shoes, pieces of agricultural equipment, used condoms, water heaters, port-a-potties, livestock watering troughs, fishing bait containers, fence posts, picnic tables, lawn mowers, corrugated metal, parts of cars, microwave ovens, grocery carts, and on one occasion, an open and empty home safe. It was hard work in wet and muddy conditions, but it did lead to an “esprit de corps”. The home-baked cookies at the end of the day were very well received. We would ask the students to share their post Skunk River Navy thoughts in written reflections after they had showered and eaten a warm meal. Here’s a few examples:

“I think the most important thing I learned that day was the fact that so much trash gets dumped into rivers each year. It’s amazing how much people don’t care about the environment. Maybe one day they will.”

“I envisioned that there would be a lot of garbage, but I never imagined that people could treat the Earth with such disrespect… The Skunk River Navy was an educational as well as character building experience for all of us.”

“I have always been amazed by the biodiversity of life on our planet, but being exposed to a thriving example of that vitality in only a fraction of an imperfect stream is almost beyond comprehension.”

“Upon returning from the Skunk River Navy, I have a completely new view of the river environment, and I also realize how ignorant and inconsiderate some people are about the environment.”

“After being tired, sore, cold, and thirsty I was able to look at the huge heap of trash I had helped pick up and know that I had done something good for the entire community.”

“One of the best parts of the day was everybody’s teamwork. We worked well getting the canoes over the dam, and also when we had to carry the trash up the hill and clean out the canoes.”

“The best part was Mrs. Colbert’s chocolate chip cookies!”

Our local efforts reduced the total amount of trash in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean by… well, I’m not sure that they make numbers that small. Trash is both an aesthetic (it’s ugly) and a significant (microplastics, toxins, various harms to wild creatures) problem. Given the global scope of the problem our efforts effectively “did not matter”. And that’s not even the most significant way in which the efforts of the Skunk River Navy did not matter. The major problems impacting our local streams aren’t the accumulation of trash. The major problems are: 1) high levels of nutrients, primarily from agricultural fertilizers and waste from confined animal feeding operations; 2) high sediment loads mostly from erosion in row crop fields and high water induced collapse of stream banks; 3) large fluctuations in stream flow resulting from historic draining of wetlands, agricultural drainage tiles, and drainage ditches; and 4) loss of biodiversity (e.g., freshwater mussel species) due to the preceding issues. The well-intentioned efforts the Skunk River Navy did nothing to address these major issues.

A combination of advancing age, competing demands, and increased liability concerns, amongst other factors, led to the end of the Skunk River Navy after a final trash patrol in September 2017. It is totally unsurprising that, to date, the effort has not been resurrected at Iowa State University. The efforts of the Skunk River Navy didn’t matter but did they “make a difference”? That’s a hard question to answer. One can hope, I certainly do, that none of the Skunk River Navy participants ever thoughtlessly threw trash in a river after their experience. I don’t know whether that’s the case. Maybe some of those participants went on to have careers that focused on protecting natural resources. I hope so, even though such careers are undervalued and typically don’t pay well. The natural world needs all the help it can get in the face of the human juggernaut of technology and the desire for ever more profit.

One can also hope that one’s efforts, as insignificant as they may be, might inspire others. On Saturday 3 May 2025 I believe I got a glimpse of that inspiration. Prairie Rivers of Iowa, in cooperation with the City of Ames, Story County Conservation, the Skunk River Paddlers, and the Outdoor Alliance of Story County, sponsored their 6^th Annual “PACRAT” stream clean-up, this year on a section of Ioway Creek. This effort began in 2020, only three years after the demise of the Skunk River Navy. I take no direct credit for the efforts of these groups, but I hope that the previous efforts of the Skunk River Navy helped inspire them to continue to care for Ioway Creek. Due to an opening in my rather aggressive turkey hunting schedule, I was able to participate. I was happy to be able to so, especially given that none of the responsibility was mine. We passed through a section of Ioway Creek that the Skunk River Navy had worked on several times in past years. I had the pleasure of sharing a canoe with a young woman who was just about to complete 4^th grade. I enjoyed the opportunity to teach her how to hold, and use, a canoe paddle. It was her first-ever experience in a canoe. She was amazed at how “beautiful” this rather abused urban stream was. We saw Canada geese, blue-wing teal, and tracks of deer, raccoons, and beavers. After some initial hesitation, she enthusiastically picked up trash, of which there was no shortage, partially buried in the sand bars we disembarked on. Overall, 33 people participated and just over 1.5 tons of trash were removed from about 2.5 miles of Ioway Creek.

The natural world is under tremendous pressure from human activities. Pollution, climate change, impending mass extinction. It will take a great deal of “inspiration” (and perspiration!) to protect and maintain it, while hopefully also maintaining the status of humans as a “non-extinct” species. The specific efforts of the Skunk River Navy and Prairie Rivers of Iowa may not “matter” in the big picture, but maybe they can help inspire all of us to work together to make a difference.