SPRINGFIELD, Vt. – A huge effort by a crew of Hypertherm employees netted a full 15-cubic-yard dumpster worth of trash from the Black River in Springfield. On Friday, Aug. 16, team leaders Rick Paulsen and Ryan Gay coordinated with Black River Action Team (BRAT) director Kelly Stettner to tackle a three-mile stretch of the river between North Springfield and the shopping plaza. The Hypertherm folks brought their own kayaks, and long-time BRAT volunteer Richard Barber brought his flat-bottomed fishing boat to act as a scouting vessel and trash barge. Richard and his “wingman” patrolled as much of the river stretch as they could reach, collecting dozens of tires and everything else they could carry from the Hypertherm paddlers.
The Town of Springfield supported the effort by coordinating the dumpster – by the end of the cleanup, it contained an estimated 295 pounds of rusted scrap metal, 108 tires (many were decades old), and a range of items from electronics to children’s yard furniture, strips of plastic hundreds of feet long, shopping carts, and more. A truly impressive amount of work by Hypertherm.
Hypertherm is planning a second employee-led cleanup this year, and BRAT is holding their 25th annual RiverSweep cleanup on Sept. 7, with headquarters based at Riverside Middle School in Springfield; all these efforts are part of the annual Source to Sea cleanup of the Connecticut River Conservancy. Preregister for RiverSweep, or find another cleanup near you at www.sourcetoseacleanup.org. For details on RiverSweep, contact BRAT at blackrivercleanup@gmail.com, or leave your contact information at 802-738-0456.