Rafting River Cleanup to End with Lunch, Day at Waterpark

Keep Sevier Beautiful and Rafting in the Smokies are teaming up on Friday, Aug. 5, 2016 for a back-to-school river cleanup of the Little Pigeon River and its bank along Old Knoxville Highway in Sevierville near the Wilderness at the Smokies resort. The cleanup will begin at 9 a.m. and conclude around noon with a celebration luncheon at Wilderness at the Smokies and a cool-off for the volunteers in the Wilderness at the Smokies waterpark.

Keep Sevier Beautiful volunteers will join river guides from Rafting in the Smokies in kayaks, boats and rafts to cleanup litter in the river and on the often hard-to-reach riverbanks. Rafting in the Smokies rafts will be used to transport the collected trash to a point on the riverbank where it can be unloaded.

“Keep Sevier Beautiful is excited to be partnering with Rafting in the Smokies,” said Laura Howard, a member of KSB’s Board of Directors. “With their resources, experienced raft guides and passion to protect our waterways—they are an invaluable asset to our community and to this event.”

Teresa Karson, general manager of Rafting in the Smokies added, “As a rafting company, protecting our waterways is vital. We want the visitors of Sevier County to see the beauty of the water where they are staying to want them to experience a whitewater adventure. We are proud to support the efforts of Keep Sevier Beautiful to protect our natural resources.”

Want to join the river cleanup? Contact Laura Howard at (865) 850-4098 or email info@keepsevierbeautiful.org.

Parts of the stretch of the Little Pigeon River involved in this cleanup are still on the Impaired Stream list with the TDEC (Tennessee Department of Environmental Conservation). These two organizations want to work together to improve the waterways and raise awareness of the importance of clean waterways.

Often volunteers are not awarded for their cleanup work, but Wilderness of the Smokies is paying tribute to the volunteers by feeding them lunch and providing them passes to the waterpark.