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Sound Rivers Program Director Clay Barber and Neuse Riverkeeper Samantha Krop paid a visit to the Little Rock Creek trash trap on Wednesday to rid the trap of a nuisance: not trash, but a tree.

“I don’t know when exactly, but at some point, a great big tree — probably a 14- to 15-inch-diameter tree — got wedged up against the trap across the creek. The trap was laying on it kind of funny,” Clay said.

This impaired the trap’s ability to do its job of passively collecting litter floating downstream in the creek, so Clay and Samantha brought along a chainsaw to remove the tree.

“We ended up cutting it in two places because there was enough water in the creek to float the logs a little bit, so we floated the three logs downstream of the trap,” Clay said.

While in the process, they had a visit from staff members of the Walnut Creek Wetland Center, who were leading a tour of the facility for NCDOT employees, which offered up an unexpected opportunity for some Sound Rivers outreach.

“They were learning about the Wetland Center, and the Wetland Center was talking about the trash trap, and brought them down to have a look,” Clay said. “We had an impromptu presentation about the trap while we were in the creek, and the good news is, some of those folks said they’d be interested in adopting it.”

The Little Rock Creek trash trap is one of 11 traps in Sound Rivers’ Litter-Free Rivers fleet. The Litter-Free Rivers program was launched in early 2023, just a year after the first trash trap was installed on Jack’s Creek in Washington. Since, traps have been installed on Duffyfield Canal in New Bern, Little Rock Creek in Raleigh, Adkin Branch in Kinston, Greens Mill Run in Greenville, East Tarboro Canal in Tarboro, a tributary of Jack’s Creek in Washington, Marsh Creek in Raleigh and Little Creek in Clayton. Another has been approved by the Town of Smithfield, Raleigh is slated to get another one and a third is in the works in Nashville.

Through Litter-Free Rivers, Sound Rivers and an army of volunteers have removed nearly 6 tons of trash from waterways and their banks since the program began. More than 2 tons were removed in 2025.

Like Sound Rivers’ Litter-Free Rivers program? Donate today to keep your waterways Litter-Free!

Interested in helping with a trash trap cleanout? We’d love your help! See when the next ones are scheduled here!

Your group (civic, friend, family, school, church, scout, etc.) can volunteer to Adopt A Trash Trap for a month of monitoring and cleanouts. Visit our Adopt A Trash Trap page to find out how.