Western Carolina University

There is still time to sign up for Western Carolina University’s Tuckaseigee River Cleanup, scheduled for Saturday, April 21.

WCU’s Base Camp Cullowhee and Last Minute Productions are looking for volunteers to help remove everything from aluminum cans and milk jugs to old tires and abandoned appliances from a section of the Tuckaseigee River.

The 23rd annual river cleanup will cover a portion of the river in Jackson County beginning at East Laporte and ending at Barker’s Creek.

Volunteers will have the option of working from a raft or from the riverbank. No rafting experience is required for those working in the river; however, rafters are required to weigh 40 pounds or more.

Transportation to and from the river will be provided and participants should wear old clothing and bring gloves to protect their hands.

After the cleanup, a free cookout will be held for volunteers at the Western picnic area on Cullowhee Creek. Drawings will be held for a variety of prizes donated by area merchants and a $100 cash prize to the largest organized group. Each volunteer will receive a free T-shirt commemorating the event.

Major sponsors include Duke Power; Dillsboro River Company; Jackson County Travel and Tourism; Jackson Paper Manufacturing; Melrose, Seago & Lay, P.A.; Motion Makers bicycle shop; Nantahala Outdoor Center; Great Smoky Mountains Railroad; Sylva Herald; Hunter, Large & Sherrill, PLLC; Tuckaseegee Outfitters; and Wildwater Rafting.

Pre-registration is strongly encouraged and currently being accepted. Registration forms are available on-line at www.wcu.edu/univcenter/outdoors and can be submitted via fax at (828) 227-7250 or dropped off in person on the first floor of Western’s A. K. Hinds University Center. On-site registration will be at 11 a.m. the day of the cleanup on the lawn of the University Center.

For more information, call (828) 227-3466.