By Joseph Slacian
jslacian@thepaperofwabash.com
WABASH, Ind. – Visitors to the Wabash Riverfront Plaza will now have a better view of the Wabash River, thanks to the efforts of the city and several area organizations, and even students from the Wabash Middle School.
The groups spent Thursday evening, May 17, removing brush from the banks of the river, just west of the Wabash Street bridge. On Friday morning, May 18, the students loaded the trimmings into city trucks to be transported to the city’s brush recycling site.
“The city decided we wanted to show the river some more, with this beautiful new scenery that we have,” Park Superintendent Adam Hall told The Paper of Wabash County. “I’ve been coming down here the last two weeks to cut brush down.”
Wabash River Defenders founder Michael Beauchamp then arranged for local groups to remove the brush Thursday evening.
“The mayor asked for some help,” he said. “We’ve gotten help from a lot of groups, like Wabash Marketplace, the Solid Waste District, CrossFit Relativity, Wabash Rotary, just a number of groups have come together to help us out. This is really a great thing for Wabash.
Middle School teacher Jennifer Warnock said the students wanted to do a community service project, and thought helping clearing the brush would be something to help the community.
However, before doing the work, they had to make a written proposal to Middle School Principal Mike Mattern. Once that permission was received, they had to write requests to their parents to receive permission.
Hall said the city didn’t need permits from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources to do the work.
“We’re following all the regulations,” he said. “We have to make sure nothing goes into the river. If anything does, we have to bring it out. And then, we can’t grind down the stumps. We want to keep the roots to keep everything connected so we’re not going to get anything to wash away.
“They’re still there holding the earth together for us.”
