Several University students came together through Volunteer LSU to canoe up and down the Baton Rouge bayou to preserve a section of Bayou Manchac, clearing out 20 trash bags worth of litter in just under three hours.
The event was a joint effort between Volunteer LSU and PaddleBR. The president and founder of PaddleBR, Nathaniel Klumb, said the group wants to make people more aware of the waterways in Baton Rouge and the recreational opportunities they provide..
“[PaddleBR’s] mission is to improve access to and along the waterways,” Klumb said. “We work to improve conditions along the waterways by doing things like cleanup events and reporting anything that we come across. We work to improve awareness of the waterways just by getting people out and enjoying it.”
University students were able to contribute to this mission by spending their Sunday in the water. Although making a body of water like Bayou Manchac completely clean proved to be a looming task, Volunteer LSU put in their best efforts to round up as much litter as possible.
“I like to say that, although you’ll never get everything, every piece of litter you get out is a piece that’s not there anymore,” Klumb said. “We’re really happy whenever we have a group that can come out, enjoy a fun day, but also make a real impact.”
Volunteer LSU Focus Area Director and environmental engineering junior Duyen Lam has been working with PaddleBR on similar projects for two years. Originally, she brought students to Bayou Manchac to clean along the banks, but decided to help incorporate canoeing because there was so much litter in the bayou itself.
“Being out here gives you a bigger appreciation to care,” Lam said. “I want to get as many people out here and out in the water as possible.”
Environmental Area Focus Chair and chemical engineering and theatre sophomore Kaitryana Leinbach led the event for Volunteer LSU. She was the first to eagerly launch her canoe in the cleanup effort and the last to dock. Leinbach reflected on leading her first event for Volunteer LSU.
“I think it was amazing,” Leinbach said. “I think everyone saw how much litter there really is. You don’t really see it every day because they keep everything tidy and clean on LSU’s campus, but you just step out ten minutes away and you see all the issues and litter.”
Leinbach is from North Carolina but considers herself a Louisianian after living here for less than two years. She hopes to create more events like these in an effort to better the state’s environment.
“I feel like one thing that Louisiana really has is pride,” Leinbach said. “I think the best way to show pride for your state and your community is by going out and serving in it.”
After throwing away the 20 bags of litter that were fished out of Bayou Manchac, the LSU student volunteers gathered with Leinbach and Lam to reflect on what was accomplished and how we can do better as residents to prevent this sort of trash build up from occurring. Many of the students were pleased with the day’s efforts.
“It was a lot of fun for me,” said biology engineering junior Nathan Istre. “I can definitely see the impact that we had. It took us two hours to get maybe a mile down the river, but as we came back, I could see that there was pretty much zero trash [left].”
“It went really well,” said geology junior Anna Sibils. “It was really nice to see that there is a group of students at LSU that are getting together and trying to make a difference. I hope to do it again.”
