Outdoors
The BDN outdoors section brings readers into the woods, waters and wild places of Maine. It features stories on hunting, fishing, wildlife, conservation and recreation, told by people who live these experiences. This section emphasizes hands-on knowledge, field reports, issues, trends and the traditions that define life outside in Maine. Read more Outdoors stories here.
Over the last couple of years, Brandon Bichrest has brought attention to the number of tires sitting in our rivers. I first wrote about him last September, after he started removing tires from the Androscoggin River. A lot has changed since then.
The more I look into river cleanups, the more I realize how many different people and groups are doing them around the country. Some are groups that have been cleaning rivers for years. Others are individuals who simply decided to do something about the trash they were seeing.
And, just like when you decide you want to buy a red 4Runner and suddenly see red 4Runners everywhere, I have started noticing river cleanups all over Instagram and Facebook that I never noticed before.
I have been in the fishing industry for 25 years and have been a member of Trout Unlimited for a long time. I have seen plenty of river cleanups over the years, but I don’t remember seeing this much attention being given to them.
It got me wondering how many other people across the country were doing the same thing and whether individuals can sometimes accomplish more by simply taking it upon themselves to make something happen.
I remember when I was part of the Sunkhaze Trout Unlimited group. We had more than 100 members, but it seemed like only five people would show up for meetings. Events could be tough to organize when everything was being done by just a handful of people.
So is it better to have a large organization behind something, or can one person who is passionate enough actually get more done?
I started thinking about that question when I came across the Delaware River Club and its Pig Farm Ink “Get Trashed” event, where people get together to clean up the Upper Delaware River. They have been doing it for 10 years.
If you look at the pictures from these cleanups, you see tons of tires and other trash being removed. It’s amazing to see how much people can accomplish, but it also makes me wonder: How and why is there still so much trash in the river after 10 years of cleanups?
Maybe that is part of the problem. We are dealing with decades of trash that was put into rivers long before most of us ever thought about it.
Another example is the owner of Mossy Creek Fly Fishing. He rows his boat down the Shenandoah River and fills it with tires. He calls it the “Tire Barge.” He has been doing it since 2019.
He even turns it into a little contest. People try to guess the total number and weight of the tires, and the winner gets a $100 gift card to the fly shop. Battle Creek Landfill disposes of the tires for free.
I think that’s a great example of taking an idea and making it something people want to participate in.
Brandon’s tire mission
I recently reached out to Bichrest to see how the tire removal was going. When I asked him why he started pulling tires out of the river, his answer was pretty simple.
“Because they’re everywhere and unsightly. Then I did research and learned how bad tires are for the water and for bug life.”
He also pointed me toward a shocking YouTube video about the history of using tires as fish habitat across the country.
Last year, Bichrest had removed around 200 tires. Yesterday, he pulled his 700th.
Think about that for a minute. Seven hundred tires pulled out of a river.
Bichrest explained that this isn’t a project for someone who is inexperienced or not prepared for hard work. Pulling a 50-plus-pound tire off the bottom of a river in five feet of water while dealing with current is not easy. After trying to remove one myself, I can tell you he isn’t exaggerating.
I also asked Bichrest what happens to the tires after he gets them out. Once he gets around 100, he contacts a company that comes and takes them away. The tires are then ground up and used for things such as driveways.
He is showing what just one person can accomplish.
So I tried it myself
I see Bichrest’s posts all the time, and I talk to him almost every week. I also tease him about his posts from time to time.
So this year, with the Penobscot running low, I happened to find an area with a few tires. I had clients with me, and we decided to try to pull one out.
The first tire was in about three feet of water, which is roughly waist deep. I couldn’t even move it, so I eventually gave up.
As I moved farther downstream, I found another tire sitting in about a foot of water. It was completely full of dirt, which made it much harder to remove.
We eventually got it moving, but as I was pulling it out, the inner tube hit my hand.
I jumped.
I knew there were eels in the river.
When Bichrest says removing tires isn’t for the weak, I now understand exactly what he means. I can also see why you would probably need a couple of people working together if you wanted to remove any real number of tires.
What about the Penobscot?
Will I start removing tires from the Penobscot? I’m not sure.
Maybe Stac and I could make it part of our 2 Fly Bug Bumper. We are going to look at it.
Is there a major tire problem in the Penobscot? No, I wouldn’t say that. But there are tires in the river, and if they can be safely removed, why not?
Maybe this is where these grassroots cleanups can make a difference. You don’t necessarily need a huge organization, a big budget or hundreds of volunteers. Sometimes you just need one person who looks at a problem and says, “I’m going to do something about it.”
I didn’t notice these efforts before. But now that I am looking, I see them everywhere.
