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DAVID POPE
F.O.R. San Bernard
Clean Team Chairman
I’m Dave Pope, also known around here as the San Bernard River "Trash" Dude.
Growing up in the outdoors of South and Southeast Texas, fishing, hunting, hiking and camping - I have always been aware of our natural environment. Through the Boy Scouts, I learned a great appreciation of America and our responsibility to maintain, protect and restore our environment. I have carried that responsibility for our natural resources through my life.
I first started fishing and boating on the San Bernard in the 1980’s; bought property here in 1990 and finally, once retired here, I’ve continued to work on keeping the San Bernard River clean. I believe the water quality should be safe and the river accessible to all that enjoy its many recreational uses.
Today, I continue to work to keep the San Bernard River one of the cleanest rivers in Texas.
For almost 3 years now, I’ve helped lead efforts to perform clean-up events along our river, its banks and public boat ramp facilities. So far, over 300 folks who care about the San Bernard River have turned out - even with menacing rain showers. They have cleaned up tons of trash, debris, abandoned/sunken vessels and even some very odd things, like a bowling ball and an Ostrich egg.
The Heavy Debris Team members have physically dragged all types of trash from our river. They got down in the river and got dirty too, because they care about this river. They removed dozens of refrigerators, parts of docks, several old boats, lots of tires and every type of plastic item you can think of.
I would like to thank everyone of you that helped in these clean-ups!
Participating in these events has given me the opportunity to work with many of our county officials and departments: the Sheriff's Deptartment, the Health Department – Environmental, our county commissioners and especially the Brazoria County Parks Department. These are the folks who build, maintain and improve our County Parks, County Beaches and Public Boat Ramp facilities. They have helped us many times before, during and after our events along the river. They do an awesome job on a tight budget.
I’ve asked for, and have followed the many new improvements to, our boat ramp facilities along the San Bernard River.
I care about our water quality, follow the TCEQ water sampling program and have attended meetings with our Conoco-Phillips neighbors to monitor what’s in our river. I participate in the Keep Texas Beautiful Program (KTB) here in Brazoria County. We have several KTB affiliate groups in this area and they do a great job with their beautification projects. I am also an ABC Channel 13 KTRK Severe Weather Spotter. You may have seen or heard my reports from the San Bernard River during weather segments on the evening news.
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Clean Up Efforts
 
This year (2006) our 160 plus volunteers worked many hours toward cleaning up the San Bernard River. After a very successful clean-up last year, our volunteers outdid themselves this year and not only cleaned up over 26 miles of our river's banks but helped solve a long time dumping problem.
This dump site was not only shut down but also cleaned up by efforts of Brazoria County crews and commercial waste companies. Our efforts were reported in several local news articles.
Efforts continue to educate the public about our "Don’t Trash the San Bernard River" message. Co-operative works with Brazoria County Parks Department have resulted in additional trash containers being installed at the public boat ramps on the San Bernard River.
New trash cans at the FM 521 Public Boat Ramp
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Contact David at cleanteam@sanbernardriver.com if you would like to help with F.O.R. San Bernard clean-up events. |
