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History of Rivers Alive
Initiated by Curtis Farrar, a past DNR Board Member, the idea of a river cleanup event was conceived in the early 1990’s with the first cleanup being organized by the DNR Wildlife Division in 1992. This “statewide” cleanup focused attention on the Oconee, Ocmulgee, Satila, and Alapaha watersheds. In 1993, organization of the cleanup was divided among the various divisions within DNR: Wildlife Resources, Environmental Protection, Coastal, and Water Resources.
In the mid 90’s, Georgia Adopt-A-Stream became the lead program spearheading the annual river cleanup. It is important to note that throughout the 90’s other government and non-government organizations also conducted cleanup events at different times of the year, focusing on particular regions or watersheds within the state. However there was no collaboration between government and non-governmental entities.
In 1999, a significant change occurred – the various cleanup organizations throughout the state unified for the first time to form Rivers Alive. The rationale was that there would be many advantages to forming a single, unified cleanup up: the primary advantage being the solicitation of private donations from corporations to support our cleanup organizers and volunteers.
For the past 11 years, Rivers Alive has seen tremendous growth. Its success is a direct result of the event organizers from across the State who take the time to arrange a cleanup and Rivers Alive Advisory Board who put in countless hours assisting with the program to make it successful. Continued success of the Rivers Alive program is dependent on a strong volunteer base that is concerned about and prepared to take action to clean and protect their local waterways.
Each year Rivers Alive produces an annual report highlighting the work done. The report includes final tally results and newspaper articles from across the state.
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