Cleanups in the Illinois River Watershed
Fall 2024
Northwest Arkansas Stormwater Extension Service leads the Pick Up Where You Play cleanups each year to keep our watershed litter-free, and we want to support them and their mission to improve water quality.
Anyone who participates in a cleanup will be eligible to win a FREE 2 night stay and a 4 person float trip at Gracie’s Canoe Camp in Missouri.
If you want to participate in any of these cleanups during the fall, go to Pick Up Where You Play to find a location that works for you!
Chamber Springs Public Access Litter Cleanup
Join us to keep the Chamber Springs Public Access on the Illinois River litter-free to help improve the water quality of the Illinois River Watershed.
Volunteer Leadership Opportunities
We are looking for passionate individuals who are able to help coordinate our spring and fall cleanups, so if you are wanting to make a difference in your watershed, please contact us!
Did you know that Arkansas has the 12th largest highway system in the nation? That means more than 16,000 miles of roadway to maintain and keep litter free—that’s a lot! In 2020, Keep America Beautiful released the findings of its largest study on litter in America since 2009. The results showed that more than 50 billion pieces of litter land on American roadways each year. Of those 50 billion pieces, 26 billion pieces ended up along the waterways while 24 billion pieces remained on the roadside. That’s more than 2,000 pieces of litter per mile in our state. ALSO, Arkansas has approximately 82,000 miles of waterways that carries litter downstream to the Gulf of Mexico.
For Arkansas, that’s an average of 32 million pieces of litter annually.
-ARDOT, Keep it Clean Arkansas