Warriors of the Waterways

I’m standing in the middle of the Naugatuck River across from Platts Mill Road on a warm, if slightly overcast, Sunday morning on what Kevin R. Zak calls “Seasonal Island.” Zak, a fit man in his 50s sporting a cut-off shirt and slightly too-long sandy hair, explains to me that the island of scrub brush and gravel is visible only at certain times of the year when the water level is low.

As expected, Zak knows a good deal about this stretch of the Naugatuck River. As one of the co-founders of the Naugatuck River Revival Group (NRRG), he has spent the past several years working to undo the significant ecological damage that has plagued this waterway for most of the 20th century.

“We got a small army here!” Zak exclaims as more volunteers wade into the slow-moving river Aug. 21. Some don studded boots and fishing waders (mine are on loan from Zak), while others work in water shoes, shorts or jeans. Almost everyone carries a shovel or pry bar.

When the group has gathered in the middle of the river, Zak describes some of the wildlife that inhabits the area: osprey, beavers and the like. He also outlines the plan of attack for the day. We will be walking — in the river — about 500 feet downstream to another island where the revival group has not yet had an opportunity to clean. The volunteers will be taking along two kayaks to load with large pieces of debris.

The cleaning crew begins trekking to its ultimate destination. Several volunteers pick up trash along the way: a hubcap here, a shoe or bottle there. Some of the dregs are unidentifiable, but all go into the kayaks or buckets for proper disposal.

Rollin’ on the River

NRRG began its life about five years ago as an informal neighborhood watch association for the inhabitants of Platts Mill Road. After a number of cars were broken into, residents began meeting to keep a better watch over their homes and to pick up trash along the streets. When the neighborhood became markedly safer and interest in the original group began to wane, a core group of just under 10 people began to turn their attention toward the nearby Naugatuck River.

“We just stuck together and created a river group because that’s where we decided to focus our energies from the neighborhood watch,” Zak explained.

Since those early days, NRRG has sponsored several formal cleanups and hundreds of “informal” cleanup hours, where individual members go into the river alone or with friends to remove debris on their own time. Zak insists that the latter method is probably more important than the advertised cleanup days that generate publicity for the group.

“I don’t believe in an ‘Earth day’ — you’ve got to do it every day,” Zak said. “You do it when you can. You do it when the water is low. You do it when the group is available. If we catered to just an advertising thing, it would fail.”

Clearly, Zak’s rationale has some merit. Since the group’s formation, it has removed hundred of tires, more than 150 shopping carts, 13 payphones and a whole list of oddities that range from an ATM to a sawed-off shotgun. More important, though, is the ecological impact. Zak, who is also an avid observer of wildlife along the river, has seen birds, fish, turtles, deer and beavers return to the water in greater numbers than ever before.

“There are offspring that are being born, and they’re creating a new ecosystem,” said Zak.

Tired of Tires

Along for the cleanup Aug. 21, in addition to NRRG, are members of We Are Change Connecticut, a grassroots social justice organization that works to expose all forms of government corruption. Howard Nema, one of the co-founders of the Connecticut chapter, tells me that the missions of NRRG and We Are Change actually dovetail.

“It’s raising awareness to problems that are fixable. This is something that you can fix. This is something that’s not hopeless,” says Nema while we stand together in the river. “The individual has power. And collectively as a country, if we are all individually part of something, we can make a difference in the world.”

Nema goes on to praise NRRG members for not waiting for the government to take action on cleaning the river and for taking the initiative to tackle the problem on their own.

“The economy and the ecology of our planet depend on the individual,” Nema adds.

Meanwhile, the other members of We Are Change are working to extract a number of tires that have been spotted on the river bottom. Some of the wheels come up quickly and easily, the volunteers turning each tire so that mud and river silt pour from the inner tubes like rich, black oil.

But one tire is giving the group a problem, and the reason is clear in a moment: This is no regular tire, but the wheel from a big-rig truck that is still on its rim. A large gash in the sidewall means that the tire is full of water and mud.

After several intense moments of struggle, the volunteers manage to get the tire onto a rock, where they turn it sideways so the water can drain out. For a moment there is a cascade of sludge. Then the tire joins the other garbage in one of the kayaks.

Overcoming Obstacles, Spreading Knowledge

There was a brief time when NRRG was not welcome in the borough. Despite accepting a beautification award from the city of Waterbury, the revival group received complaints from a small group of Naugatuck residents. Zak suspects that these residents were using the river as their “own private dumping ground” and made a case against NRRG to hide their own illegal activities. Nonetheless, the accusers pressured then-Mayor Michael Bronko, who is now a burgess, to shut the group down. Eventually, NRRG had to come before the Inland Wetlands Commission to defend itself.

“There was a small case that was being made against us,” said Zak, “and the [Inland Wetlands Commission] wanted us to wait a little bit so they could investigate, and we just told them flat out — it’s on the record — that we preferred you made your decision now whether you stop us or let us go.”

In the end, the commission ruled in favor of NRRG and “now they’re a wonderful ally,” said Zak.

Asked for comment on the situation, Bronko said that his recollection of the incident had to do with NRRG’s use of a tractor to remove plants by the river.

“I’m not sure exactly what they were cutting down. I just knew they were too close to the river with the machines doing it. I remember that’s what the problem was,” said Bronko. “Because they were using the tractor, they were churning things up that weren’t supposed to be churned up. They had to move forward using hand work instead of machinery.”

The former mayor also went on to praise the group’s current mission: “As far as what they’re doing cleaning up the river,” he said, “I think it’s fantastic. I give them all the credit for doing that."

Its legal troubles now resolved, NRRG has continued its core function of cleaning the river. Going forward, Zak would also like to integrate an educational aspect into NRRG’s mission.

As it is, Zak is invited to speak at schools, Boy Scout units and other functions on an occasional basis. But he also has it on his wish list to expand even further. Zak is particularly interested in river awareness and safety, of educating young people both about the potential dangers of the river and about the wildlife that lives there. One recent incident bears this out: While working on the river one day, Zak observed a group of children playing in the water and on Seasonal Island. Some were barefoot, while others wore sandals that offered little protection. Zak showed the children and their mother a decayed piece of metal that he had not been able to remove yet and how much harm it could have caused to bare feet.

“You can’t go in there without shoes, protection,” said Zak. “You have to be careful.”

Zak has also compiled hundreds of photos over the years and a DVD video that he shows at events. Reactions to both, he said, are universally positive. He is currently working on a new video with even more wildlife and cleanup footage.

An Ongoing Journey

It’s approaching 1 p.m., and the kayaks are almost full now. At one point, I ask NRRG member Sondra Harman about the strangest thing she’s ever pulled from the river.

“Kevin,” she answers immediately with a laugh. Then she pauses for a moment, as if thinking. “Nothing,” she finally says, explaining that she has become so desensitized during her years with the group that very few objects in the river would come as a surprise to her any more.

Harman leaves shortly thereafter to prepare lunch for the volunteers, and everyone else is ready to head back and deposit the trash that has been collected so far. The tally for the day? Multiple tires, two shopping carts, a rusted oil drum, a tool tower, the casing from a large metal fan, an industrial hose, and bags upon bags of miscellaneous garbage. The volunteers from We Are Change have done a tremendous job digging out the more stubborn pieces of trash, and everyone is soaked up to their armpits.

“This is the first day I’ve been on a formal cleanup,” said Nick Tetreault, one of Zak’s neighbors. “Kevin started about five or six years ago clearing out a path, and I would come down and maybe help a little bit. [Kevin] brought more awareness to the river.”

Jim Russell, one of the co-founders of the We Are Change Connecticut was equally proud of the day’s work: “We were able to rip out a good amount of crap. I was pretty happy that we were able to get that much out.”

The kayaks are proving difficult to move back upstream. Stacked precariously with their loads, each one is surrounded by volunteers to ensure they don’t tip over. One has begun to take on water.

Reflecting on the experience later, it strikes me how low-tech the entire day was: no computers, no state-of-the-art river vessels — just a group of determined people with simple shovels and beaten metal pry bars. It’s fitting, in a way, since NRRG sees itself as a group of modern-day Shackletons: brave men and women willing to sign on for a dramatic and seemingly arduous journey, one that has any number of perils and whose end is nowhere in sight.

As Zak says: “We can’t defend the whole river — it’s too long. … You see the trash, pick it up. You see a shopping cart, go in and get it. Don’t wait for next year’s river day because it will be buried by then or it’ll move somewhere.”

For more information on the Naugatuck River Revival Group, call 203-530-7850, email shackletons27@yahoo.com or visit the group’s Facebook page.