This summer, two Granite Gear sponsored Minnesotan adventurers, Paul Twedt and Michael Anderson, aim to remove trash from 1200 miles of Minnesota rivers: the Namekagon/St. Croix, Minnesota and Mississippi. The duo completed their first leg of their Three Rivers Expeditions on the Namekagon/St. Croix Riverway on June 27th and successfully cleaned up 736 pounds of litter in 15 days.
Twedt and Anderson founded Adventure Stewardship Alliance and represent the organization’s mission of acting as stewards of our public waterways, inspiring a deeper sense of connection and care for natural environments and public waterways. They believe litter isn’t one person’s problem, it’s everyone’s problem, and they aim to make an impact on that issue. Adventure Stewardship Alliance is dedicated to inspiring stewardship for the environment by cleaning up litter and connecting communities along the rivers and public lands that they value.
The team is currently paddling the Minnesota River, the second river clean-up of their Three Rivers Expedition. Since beginning on July 3rd near Ortonville, Minnesota at Big Stone Lake, the duo has paddled more than 65 miles and removed over 350 pounds of trash. They’ll finish around July 24th at Fort Snelling in St. Paul, Minnesota at the confluence with the Mississippi River. The expedition will conclude in October as the team paddles and cleans up the Mississippi river along its first 600 miles in Minnesota.
“We aim to serve as a positive inspiration of caring for our environment by taking action to leave the places we visit better than we found them,” Adventure Stewardship Alliance Founder, Paul Twedt says. “We need local volunteers to help us take the litter we collect from landings and boat launches that lack trash services. This work takes a community and we aim to connect people around stewarding precious water resources in Minnesota.”
“We’re proud to support such a hard-working team that has high ambitions to clean up Minnesota’s waterways and build a community around these necessary actions,” says Rob Coughlin, VP of Granite Gear. “Paul and Michael are delightful people who have the ability to get others on board to get active about protecting our wild places.”