FPC assists in the removal of 41 tires from the Reedy River

Volunteers from Foothills Paddling Club teamed up with our long time conservation partner, Save Our Saluda, to remove, among other things, 41 tires from a 900-foot section of the Reedy River in Downtown Greenville, SC. This was a part of an annual river clean up that FPC organizes in partnership with Save Our Saluda, and although this is not anything new for us, the effort this year caught the attention of the local news and several social media pages. Among a lot of the praise for the effort, were a few comments expressing frustration about how the tires got in the river in the first place. We have also learned that the city of Greenville received quite a few calls demanding that something be done to curb illegal dumping. However, there appears to be misconception as to the source of all these tires; it’s not what one would think. Yes, the tires were dumped, intentionally, by people. However, the evidence suggests that has not happened for many years.

Our club’s resident conservationist and tire expert, Kevin Miller, says that of the tires he inspected, none of them had a DOT marking. This DOT marking was made mandatory in 1971. The lack of this marking and the many layers of sediment the tires were buried in, would seem to suggest that the tires we removed, were over 50 years old. These days, the vast majority of us have a professional at dealer change the tires on our vehicles and we actually pay a disposal fee to have those tire disposed of properly. Apart from that, Greenville County operates several recycling centers for the public to drop off these tires.

We are simply cleaning up garbage from a previous generation who did not have a complete picture of the impact their actions. The good news that a lack of new tires indicates that, theoretically, we could eventually get the river completely clear of these harmful materials.

FPC Members use a SUP to transport tires and other trash downriver to a takeout point.

FPC Vice President, Adam Mobley, passes a tire up a steep embankment to a ground crew.

Ground Crew at a take out point, receives tires and deposits them in a spot where the city can pick them up.

Foothills Paddling Club will continue to conduct these cleanups every year. As experienced paddlers who are comfortable in moving water and rough terrain, we are uniquely valuable to this effort. As Save Our Saluda President, Melanie Ruhlman, explains, FPC is especially effective at these cleanups because “They are willing to get to places that the general public are not willing to go.” The average person can only access area near the river on relatively flat terrain. Paddlers, especially those with whitewater experience, are able to safely operate on moving water and steep, challenging embankments. Year after year, the effectiveness of our experienced paddlers has proven invaluable and we hope to have even more volunteers from our club, come out in the future to help finish this important work.