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Meet the kayakers cleaning up the historically polluted Anacostia River

AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:

The historically polluted Anacostia River flowing through Washington, D.C., is getting cleaner. But lots of trash still ends up in the waterway, littering the landscape and impacting the wildlife there. WAMU's Tyrone Turner went along with Kelly Tindall and Kent Fothergill, a Maryland couple who launch their kayaks into the Anacostia River more than 100 times a year to pull trash. They call it trashyaking.

KELLY TINDALL: So we first started coming out on the river during the pandemic. As we started coming out on the river more and more, I kind of developed a relationship with the river and wanted to help her out.

KENT FOTHERGILL: So we're on the northwest branch. Of, there goes a Kingfisher. There are otters in the river - ton of beaver. There's muskrat. You'll get to see deer swimming across the river and stuff. You know, for a river with the problems it has, it also has so much promise. There's an ospray.

TINDALL: We always joke that this is aquatic trash, and it's much easier to pick up terrestrial trash.

FOTHERGILL: High tide's going to be, you know, mostly pulling plastic bottles. Low tide is when you'll be able to find the crazy stuff - yeah, the safes.

TINDALL: Washing machines.

FOTHERGILL: Hot water heaters, stuff like that.

TINDALL: Those things are deliberate dumps in the river because they're not going to fit through the sewer system. Today's a shoe day. There's that shoe that over there, the one that I found earlier. Now a flip-flop - flip-flop number two with rhinestones. They're fancy. It can be depressing. I mean, we get out 100 times a year, and to still take out 11 bags of trash in one paddle event - kind of disheartening.

FOTHERGILL: It's all love. I'm more than willing to accept the blessings of the river, the peace, the tranquility. I'm also willing to pick up trash. I know, we should have some trash cleaning song.

(Singing) Hi-ho. They say the bottles are long and wrong. Look at all this trash that we've found.

RASCOE: That was WAMU's Tyrone Turner, who spent a day on the Anacostia River with kayakers, Kelly Tindall and Kent Fothergill. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

Tyrone Turner

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.