UA Little Rock Professor Builds Trash Boom to Keep Coleman Creek Clean with Sustainability Grant

One adjunct professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock has used his skills and grit to build a trash boom out of recyclable materials to help keep trash and debris out of Coleman Creek.

Dr. John Czarnecki, an adjunct professor of geology who started teaching at UA Little Rock in 2013 after retiring from a 34-year-career with the U.S. Geological Survey, installed the trash boon on the north side of campus at the beginning of the fall semester.

The project, funded by a grant from the UA Little Rock Sustainability Committee, aims to enhance the environmental health of Coleman Creek while promoting long-term campus sustainability efforts.

Rain water pushes debris from streets, lots, and backyards into Coleman Creek, a tributary of Fourche Creek. This trash and debris can end up in parks, wetlands, forests, and eventually the Arkansas River. A trash boom can help stop the spread of trash and debris by catching and holding debris, branches, leaves, and other trash materials. Volunteers clear out what's collected once a month and after heavy rains.

"The trash that we see in Coleman Creek often comes from the street since our storm system is designed to send water from the street directly into the streams," Czarnecki said. "As a result, all kinds of things end up in Coleman Creek that shouldn't be there. Installing a trash boom is a good solution to prevent more trash and debris from spreading further downstream."

This isn't the first trash boom Czarnecki has built or even the first sustainability grant project he's been a part of. Five years ago, he received a sustainability grant to place metal mesh barriers on four storm drains on campus to prevent trash build up.

"This was a very low-cost project to show that you can retrofit storm drams to prevent the build of trash and other debris," Czarnecki said. "This got me involved in trash prevention and cleaning up in our streams."

Czarnecki has been involved with the Friends of Fourche Creek and Audubon Arkansas to help clean Arkansas's waterways. In 2022, he created a trash boom for the Rose Creek Initiative, a group of volunteers who keep Rose Creek Park clean. He built a trash boom, which served as an inspiration for the one at Coleman Creek, and installed it at Rose Creek, where volunteers collect the trash once a month.

The UA Little Rock Sustainability Committee is accepting applications for innovative sustainability-related projects like Czarnecki's trash boom for the 2024-25 year. Grants of up to $2,500 will be awarded. The submission deadline is 5 p.m. Friday, Oct. 11.
All full- and part-time faculty, instructors, students, and staff may apply by filling out this online form.

For more information, email Kyungsun Lee at [email protected].

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