Last summer, Larry Callahan and 11 other volunteers trudged into the Cedar River to remove litter and debris along a stretch of the waterway in southern Mower County.

Callahan’s group of family and friends was one of 10 that scoured the Cedar’s banks in an effort to serve the Department of Natural Resource’s Adopt-a-River program, which has been steered locally by the Cedar River Watershed District. The CRWD again is looking to expand those efforts in 2013 for its third year with Adopt-a-River.

Many routes are already adopted along the Cedar River in Mower County, but a few stretches of the river remain available: a 3-mile stretch north of Lansing and a short stretch from County Road 6 to the Iowa border. Adopt-a-River routes also are available for Dobbins Creek, Turtle Creek and Wolf Creek (Todd Park).

“Volunteers drive this whole cleanup effort and have made it a huge success,” said Justin Hanson, CRWD resource specialist. “Since 2011, we all have made major strides in cleaning up the Cedar River to make it an even more beautiful recreational waterway and state water trail.”

Last year, groups removed furniture, glass, cans and nearly 200 tires.

CRWD staff, which annually cleans a 1-mile stretch of the Cedar River starting at Marcusen Park, created cleanup routes in 2011 and sought individuals and groups to adopt each route to clean up at least once a year for two years. There were no Adopt-a-River groups in Mower County at the time through the state DNR program. CRWD also coordinates and pays for the removal of trash and debris removed by volunteers.

This year, the local Adopt-a-River initiative for the first time will have a stretch of waterway adopted for cleanup that isn’t on the Cedar River. Vision 2020 Waterways Committee members earlier this year adopted East Side Lake, which is formed by a dam on Dobbins Creek.

CRWD also will work this year with Mower County Corrections to get cleanup assistance from the local Sentenced-to-Serve crew in various areas within and outside of Austin. Pheasants Forever performed its first cleanup last year as part of the Adopt-a-River effort, focusing on the stretch of the Cedar River just upstream from the Ramsey Mill Pond, north of Austin. The group of about a dozen volunteers removed more than 1,000 pounds of trash, mostly including docks and old flood debris.

Anyone interested in Adopt-a-River can contact Hanson at 507-434-2603 or justin.hanson@mowerswcd.org.