Playing in the mud is not just for kids. Even octogenarians dabble in some serious muck when floating for camaraderie and conservation.
Jim Arnold, 86, scouted ahead for sunken tires from his Pelican kayak during a day-long cleanup effort sponsored by Friends of the Middle River. For said cleanup, FOMR enlisted volunteers from Roanoke, Richmond, the Augusta County government, and the ranks of their own members. The Timmons Group, a design engineering firm, gave about fifteen employees leave from their desk duties to engage in this civic exercise.
Together, all able hands wrestled more than 200 tires from a 12-mile stretch of the Middle, which runs for 71 miles total within Augusta County. The task required a flotilla of canoes and kayaks, and a small fleet of pickup trucks and trailers. Teams wrenched submerged semi-truck and farm tires from the riverbed; some lately discarded, others many years decayed.
During the past decade, with help from Augusta County, FOMR clean-up events have removed more than 1,000 tires from the Middle. Volunteers with other local groups have also conducted their own round-ups on the North and South rivers because of the harm they cause the environment.
Tires take decades to break down, releasing toxic chemicals into the soil and watershed. When rubber hits the road and rolls into our waterways, it kills fish and other aquatic life. With each flood, as tires barrel down stream, they also destroy the natural habitats critters depend on, bashing into riverbanks, damaging roots, spreading silt.
Although FOMR promotes responsible fishing, birding, paddling and playing on the river, the group protects the quality – and water quantity – of its tributaries. When, during the past year, three small-time tire service operators dumped 200+ tires at different locations along the Middle’s banks, FOMR members took extra notice.
“We really need legislation to address tire dumping,” noted Mason Kilbourn, FOMR’s chair.
“It is illegal, but the problem is there’s no real teeth behind it. There’s also a very low likelihood of the dumpers getting caught. Other states are developing ideas [to stop this problem], and there’s some talk here.”
Greg Pflug, a Staunton local who ran a kayak touring company in Florida for 30 years, takes the river’s future very personally. The avid paddler observed, “Rivers provided for my livelihood, supported my family. I’m retired here now, so I guess I have to take care of the river.”
Jim Arnold signed up for FOMR after visiting their table at Riverfest 2025 in Waynesboro.
At the end of a recent long/grueling/gratifying day of amateur tire wrestling, he noted: “I see a lot of soaked, tired, smiling people. Really, we’re just bigger kids playing in a bigger mud puddle.”
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