A group of conservationists from multiple organizations are wading out into the deceptively deep Rapid Creek, on the hunt for something. Today though, it isn’t the elusive Black Hills brown trout.
While this bend in Rapid Creek might be a beautiful spot to fish, that’s not what we’re hunting for today. Today, we’re fishing for trash.
Bill Young, known in this circle as BY, delivered the gameplan as the group starts.
“We do have a number of people who live along our creek who are unhoused," Young said. "Generally speaking, I will police the camp a little bit, but if there’s something that’s definitely there for their survival, I leave it alone. They don’t choose to live on the creek, let them have what they need to survive.”
And it’s not long before we reel in a big catch.
“That’s cool, it’s an old dairy milk jug. That's what it looks like. My parents used to have one just like that,” one volunteer remarks.
“There might still be milk in there,” another quips.
“Yeah, there’s something in there. It’s leaking out now. That’s amazing, that’s been there a while.”
“More than likely, that’s flood debris.”
Flood debris as in the flood. The 1972 Black Hills Flood, one of the deadliest and most severe disasters in the history of South Dakota. As the mystery liquid pours out, it smells probably exactly how you imagine it smells.
The volunteers continue to hunt for trash. Meanwhile Hans Stephenson, owner of Dakota Angler and Outfitter, can’t help but wonder about the future of this crucial waterway.
“We really need to step up," Stephenson said. "Realistically, we have to take a holistic view of the entire watershed. Sometimes I look at it as a 100-year-old house, and we haven’t done any maintenance on it. Some of those maintenance bills are coming due.”
And to Stephenson, that means picking up trash, taking a hard look at the local mining industry, and getting as many people involved in the cause.
To get involved with these monthly cleanups, people are encouraged to find the Clean Up Rapid Creek Facebook or the Trout Not Trash Instagram pages.