On a beautiful, sunny afternoon, 25 volunteers from Xcel Energy Center, Saint Paul RiverCentre, and the Minnesota Wild removed approximately 3,000 pounds of debris from Lilydale Regional Park along the Mississippi River in Saint Paul on September 26 in support of the Adopt-a-River program.

The Adopt-A-River program, established in 1989 by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and currently led by Freshwater Society, has been educating Minnesotans about caring for and cleaning up rivers and watersheds. Some of the items collected included scrap metal, a window air conditioner, a box spring, folding chairs, old tires, cans and bottles, shoes, and more.

Staff partnered with Tricia Wehrle, City of Saint Paul Volunteer Coordinator, and Lindsay Schwantes, Capitol Region Watershed District Community Engagement Program Manager, during the afternoon.

As part of the organizations' commitment to be leaders in sustainability, employees started the afternoon learning from the Capitol Region Watershed District about the importance of protecting valuable waterways before embarking on the clean-up efforts.

Since 2015, this organization has made a goal to positively impact the health of natural waterways by participating in the Adopt-A-River program. Since then, they have removed nearly 10,000 pounds of debris from the banks of the Mississippi River.