By RICK MILLER
Olean Star
GOWANDA — About a dozen members of the Zoar Valley Paddling Club took part in Sunday’s Cattaraugus Creek Cleanup — a task the club has taken on for 35 years.
Heading the operation was Don Shelters of Cattaraugus, who figures at three times a year, the whitewater paddling club has done about 100 creek cleanups.
There are three sections of the creek the Zoar Valley Paddling Club removes trash from each year: Gowanda to Versailles, Hammond Hill Road in Otto to North Otto Road at 10 a.m. on May 23, and Springville to Scoby Hill Dam and Hammond Hill Road at 11 a.m. on May 24.
Contact Shelters at (716) 474-9192 if you wish to participate in either of the upcoming creek cleanups.
The group met at the Aldrich Street bridge in Gowanda where rafts and kayaks were unloaded and readied for the trip to Versailles. The creek was high and fast from recent rains and there are class II and III rapids on that section.
Everyone wore drysuits and personal flotation devices. The group stopped along the creek for snacks and the midway point and afterward enjoyed a cookout.
Cattaraugus Creek, which separates Cattaraugus and Erie counties, is the home creek of the Zoar Valley Paddling Club, a whitewater paddling group which consists of kayakers, canoists and rafters.
