Volunteers Remove 650 Tires From Coal River in Boone County

Dozens of volunteers floated down a West Virginia river to remove hundreds of discarded tires over the weekend.

The Charleston Gazette-Mail reports more than 30 volunteers in kayaks, canoes and flat-bottomed boats retrieved at least 650 tires Saturday afternoon from a 9-mile stretch of the Coal River in Boone County.

The effort was spearheaded by Trash Your Kayak, an informal group focused on removing tires and other forms of litter from the river and its tributaries.

The tires were taken to the shore, where workers with state Department of Environmental Protection’s Rehabilitation Environmental Action Plan transported them to a disposal site.

Coal River Group Chairman Bill Currey says follow-up efforts will take place to remove another 600 to 700 tires that still remain in that section of the river.