2019 Doe River Cleanup

On May 11, 2019 the Appalachian Paddling Enthusiasts joined forces with the Overmountain Chapter Trout Unlimited, Northeast Tennessee Regional Economic Partnership and the Roan Mountain Community Park to host one of the largest cleanup efforts ever attempted on the Doe River in Carter County, TN. Although the weather was subpar with cool temperatures and off/on rain showers through the morning we still had about 25 hardy souls come together for the cleanup effort. The OMTU and RMCP focused cleanup efforts on sections of the Upper Doe reaches. While the APE’s and NETREP worked on sections of the Lower Doe.

The Doe is a wonderful river full of natural beauty from its beginnings near Roan Mountain State Park to the confluence with the Watauga River near the historic Covered Bridge Park. Then there is the absolutely stunning gorge section in the middle of the river reach. With all these amazing natural features there is also heavy development of homes, roads and businesses along the river corridor, which in turns causes copious amounts of trash in the river.

Our teams worked for 3 hours trying to improve the local natural resource we love. The impact seemed futile while trying to do this cleanup with the odds stacked against us, but that didn’t keep us from trying to set a better example in hopes that people will be more thoughtful around our waterways.

After the cleanup effort concluded many of us came together at the Roan Mountain Community Park for a BBQ picnic lunch and fellowship. Good times!

Special Thanks to Bob’s Dairyland for donating the tasty BBQ, Carter County Parks and Rec Board for covering the dumpster fees for trash disposal, Pat Keller for driving across the mountain to help and Jerry Griffin for all of the shuttles & taking the trash to the dumpster with his truck.