MERIDIAN TOWNSHIP - The Red Cedar River is a central part of Meridian Township, and last weekend residents volunteered to help make it more navigable for paddlers.
 The Meridian Township Parks and Recreation Department, along with help from the Lansing Oar and Paddle Club, organized a river clean up. The cleanup is in response to a report from Jay Hanks, the president of the Lansing Oar and Paddle Club, who identified 17 points along the river that required portaging. Noting that some spots would require more work than others.
 The blockage of the Red Cedar in Eastgate Park was so large that it changed the flow of the river and resulted in the erosion of a portion of the park. The goal of the day was to make the river passable and hopefully reclaim a portion of the lost park land.
 “This log jam has been years in the making and it got to the point where we couldn't manage it with total volunteer support, so we have had to work with professionals here,” said LuAnn Maisner, Director of Parks and Recreation. 
Along with the professional volunteers came professional equipment including; excavation equipment, chain-saws, and chains.
 The river clean up is part of the Park Department’s response to requests from residents for more access to the Red Cedar River.  Additional improvements are planned for river access in Wonch Park and The Harris Nature Center.
 “The community is actually going to have a river that they can canoe and navigate without having to portage 17 times in a very short period of time,” Maisner said. “Anyway, I am very thrilled with how things are going today.”
The cleanup effort went from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. and focused on the stretch of river between Grand River Avenue and Dobie Road.