River Guardians: Saint George’s Students Make a Splash for Conservation

By Steven Leachman, Inland Northwest Land Conservancy Volunteer

I arrived at the Glen Tana property at midmorning, around ten o’clock. Already, my compatriots for the day were there to greet me. A group of high school students and three faculty members from the nearby Saint George’s School were unloading wooden canoes from the school’s truck. This group of young people were there for an important mission in service to their community: cleaning up the Little Spokane River. In coordination with the Inland Northwest Land Conservancy and local regulatory agencies, we would be covering a stretch of the waterway from Glen Tana all the way to Saint George’s School.

With the sun shining and a mellow breeze in the air, the weather was balmy and perfect for the task at hand. The students wasted no time in getting started. With two of us per canoe, we hauled them across the grassy field and down to the welcoming banks of the Little Spokane.

Once the canoes were all in line and ready to go, we received a briefing from the school’s outdoor coordinator. Rules and safety measures were detailed and, perhaps most importantly, an announcement was made: the group that gathered the most trash would be treated to milkshakes, with extra points given to the most interesting pieces found. Gathered there on the bank, the energy of the students was magnetic and it was clear they meant business. Soon after this briefing I found myself stepping into the crisp waters of the Little Spokane and then into the middle of a canoe where I would spend the next couple of hours documenting the work of these industrious and ambitious young folks.

Our first stop was a small island bifurcating the Little Spokane. The island was beautiful, abounding with local foliage, logs, and bordered by rocky beaches. With my untrained eye, I saw no litter and wondered to myself what we could possibly find there. The Saint George’s students quickly showed me. They pulled from this picturesque scenery cans, bottles, plastic products, clothing, and more golf balls than I’ve seen outside the context of a driving range. It was around this time that I was told extra points would also be awarded to the person who could find a pair of matching footwear—a feat which was indeed accomplished by the end of the cleanup. At one point, a student pulled a piece of fabric from the bed of the river. It kept on coming like a clown’s seemingly infinite handkerchief. Another student found a large portable speaker fully submerged in the water.

Aside from the staggering number and variety of items found by this group of students, it was their enthusiasm and determination that was indeed very impressive. There is no way for me to overemphasize the exuberance with which they cleaned one of Spokane’s most important natural features. They would reach, sometimes fully submerged, into the depths of the river or guide their canoes into the dense and tangled thicket of trees lining it, all the while laughing, smiling, and joking with their peers and mentors. A prime example of their resolve was when a group of students heaved a whole tire, ensnared in years of mud and sediment, from the Little Spokane. In fact, two tires were extracted from the river that day.

While the students worked to improve the health of the river, a string of ducklings floated by as their mother watched on. A great blue heron silently erupted from the waters and soared overhead. Canada geese glided gently along the currents. A pair of mallards flew hurriedly by. As our crew passed under the Waikiki bridge, a flurry of swallows tended to their young, flying into their nests of mud and back out again. In the context of our mission, these moments stood out to me as stark reminders of why we were there in the first place.

When we arrived at Saint George’s School, the end of our journey, we hauled the trash-filled canoes up and out of the river and over to a warehouse. There, the students picked out their favorite pieces to present to their respective classrooms. As this processing was done, music was played on the portable speaker found in the river. It was still fully functional. I was told that this group of students were going out again the very next day to clean even more of the Little Spokane. This time, they wouldn’t just be cleaning the river; they would also be serving as mentors to younger students during the cleanup effort.

It is in the actions of these individual students that the spirit of our community shines. The Little Spokane serves as a vital lifeline to our many native species. It is the hard work, determination, and respect given to it by people, such as these Saint George’s students, that will allow it to thrive for generations to come.