David Griffin Photography

Yesterday was the 26th annual river cleanup event by OARS.  Close to (and perhaps just over) 200 volunteers came together on a beautiful September morning to help clean up the Sudbury, Assabet, and Concord Rivers.   The cleanup spans so many communities and happens in just a few hours so it is impossible for one person to photograph all of the locations so I was assigned to a few of them.   We start on the Sudbury River in Framingham.  This is the second year the cleanup has been on the Sudbury River and close to 30 volunteers worked in and along the river pulling out tires and other trash after just a few minutes of starting.

Another group of 30+ volunteers were along the Assabet River in Maynard.   Here we see an amazing boatload of metal being hauled downstream.

Another group of students in Maynard filling up a canoe with all manner of trash.

This is a team of college students working on the Assabet River in Acton.

A large group of volunteers in Concord split between the Sudbury and Assabet Rivers.  In West Concord this group worked on the Assabet River behind Damonmill and nearly filled a large dumpster with tires and other trash taken from the river.

This is the final pile of trash pulled out of Maynard (it extends another 8 feet to the right of the image).   A phenomenal job by all!

For more images visit:  http://community.dmg-photography.com/2012-oars-cleanup/

For more information on the cleanup and how you can help our local rivers visit: http://www.oars3rivers.org