Missouri River Relief is turning 25 this year, and the Columbia-based river-cleanup nonprofit is marking the anniversary the way it knows best: getting boots wet and hauling trash out of the Big Muddy. The group’s fourth “Big Muddy Clean Sweep” — a multi-stop volunteer cleanup series that previously ran in 2000, 2010, and 2020 — reaches our stretch of the river this September, with stops in both Howard and Cooper counties.
First up is Stump Island Park in Glasgow, on Friday, Sept. 12. Registration is still open, and River Relief is providing lunch for volunteers that day. From there the cleanup moves to Franklin Island Boat Ramp in Boonville on Friday, Sept. 19 — though that stop has already filled up, so if you were hoping to sign up there, you’re out of luck this year and will want to watch for next year’s Clean Sweep instead.
The series wraps up back on home water: what River Relief is calling a “homecoming celebration,” a stretch of the river near Cooper’s Landing in Boone County, running Sept. 26 through 29.
It’s a fitting way to mark a milestone. Since its founding, Missouri River Relief has run 220 river cleanups and hauled more than 2 million pounds of trash out of the Missouri River system — work that earned the group the Missouri Environmental Education Association’s Organization of the Year award in 2024.
Volunteers don’t need river experience. River Relief provides safety gear, tools, and guidance at each stop, along with the group’s trademark t-shirt and a boat ride. Anyone in Howard or Cooper counties who wants a hand in cleaning up the stretch we all put our canoes and lawn chairs on can register at bit.ly/BMCS26-cleanups, or reach the group directly at riverrelief@riverrelief.org.
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