Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
Jed Boal ReportingVolunteers this summer rolled up their sleeves and started an uprecedented community campaign to clean up the Jordan River. They'll tackle an historic landfill this weekend that, oddly enough, recently sheltered some industrious homeless people.
Changing community perceptions about the Jordan River is not easy. But getting rid of decades worth of garbage is a good start.
Jeff Salt, Great Salt Lakekeeper: "What we're trying to do is deal with a legacy problem on the Jordan River. People have used the corridor as a landfill for years."
Many people play on the parkway and boat on the river. Others still treat it like a community dump, an open sewer and even a well-hidden encampment.
A landfill at about 3600 South is one of many informal landfills on private farmland that dotted the Jordan River corridor over the years.
The landfill is nearly 20 feet high, 100 yards wide and an undetermined length. The parkway trail rolls right over it, hundreds of tons of garbage.
This Saturday, volunteers will start to clean up the bundles of rusted mesh wire and fencing and concrete sewer pipe.
Jeff Salt: "We want to try to remove the items that are on the surface and look towards a long-term solution and cap it and revegitate it."
For the first time, there's a focused community effort to clean up the entire Parkway. Last month, more than one hundred volunteers helped clean up about six tons of garbage.
Corporate and private sponsors have pitched in financial support this summer totalling 30-thousand dollars.
Jordan River Clean-up
Saturday 8-12 at Holm Park, 3900 S. 1100 W. South Salt Lake City Directions:
Take I-15 southbound to 3300 South exit. Take exit and turn right, and go west to 700 West (see Great Basin GMC dealership to left). Turn left on 700 West. Continue south on 700 West and go past the Meadowbrook UTA bus terminal. Just after UTA, turn right onto 3800 S., which is Carlisle Park Ln. Continue west on Carlisle Park Ln., and follow the bend that goes left into the parking lot of the park. There will be construction going on, but the access into the parking lot should remain open.
