Thank you to everyone who participated in this joint project of Our Lady of Mercy High School and Genesee RiverWatch

On Saturday, November 15, we took part in 2025’s final Genesee River cleanup near the Lower Falls and Seth Green Island. The area attracts salmon and trout anglers in large numbers (several dozen were there during our cleanup), and they leave behind a good deal of trash. The cleanup was the idea of Heidi Duran, an Our Lady of Mercy High School senior who is doing a capstone project on the Genesee. She contacted Genesee RiverWatch, and we agreed to partner with her. The 15 participants (9 from Mercy, 6 from RiverWatch) collected 14 large bags of trash, plus a tire and some other large items. The city was very supportive, providing supplies and picking up the trash at the end of the day. One fisherman thanked us as he was leaving. Everyone seemed to have a fine time, and it was great to see young people pitching in to help do some good work!

The event gave us an opportunity to visit one of the more unusual and dramatic settings on the Genesee – the flats near the base of the Lower Falls in Rochester. A historic hydroelectric plant and the Driving Park Bridge loom just upstream while Seth Green Island and the heavily forested sides of the river gorge can be found downstream. 

We look forward to doing more river cleanups in 2026 and hope you’ll be able to lend a hand in this important work.