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Though most don’t consider 13 a lucky number, Sound Rivers’ thirteenth trash trap installation last Friday was the best yet.

“The Lake Johnson Park staff is just awesome. It was a very easy install because the hardest part is moving that big, old trap, and they did for us,” said Sound Rivers Program Director Clay Barber. “They’re just excited — you can tell. They had a map to the destination printed and offered every bit of equipment they have to shuttle gear and people to the site.”

That site was on Walnut Creek in Raleigh, close to where it flows into Lake Johnson.

“It’s a pretty spot with a nice walking bridge overlooking it,” Clay said. “The water was so clear, we could see a school of fish in the creek, and they have a beaver the park staff is working around back there. But there was trash built up — it had all collected around a partially submerged log, so we should really be able to tell how well the trash trap is working because that log should be litter-free in the future.”

For Volunteer Coordinator Emily Fritz, the installation provided a first visit to Lake Johnson Park.

“Seeing it for the first time, it’s absolutely gorgeous,” Emily said. “I was really blown away by all the things they have going on in the park, all the trails, and bird watching. We ran into a lot of hikers.”

The Lake Johnson Park crew included Park Manager Dan Bagley, Assistant Manager David Kammerer and Paul Martineau. Also assisting were Raleigh Senior Water Quality Specialist Joyce Gaffney and Johnny Harris, workforce lead with The Great Raleigh Cleanup.

“Everyone at Lake Johnson was a huge help with the installation,” Emily said. “They really did a lot of the heavy lifting. Everything went super-smooth, and it was probably one of the fastest installs that we’ve ever done.”

While the trash trap was being installed, Harris took the opportunity to do a solo cleanup of the trash accumulated at the log, clearing the creek of 12 pounds of garbage.

The Walnut Creek trash trap was made possible through a Sound Rivers partnership with the City of Raleigh and The Great Raleigh Cleanup, the third such partnership designed to help Raleigh’s waterways become litter-free.

Sound Rivers’ Litter-Free Rivers program started with a Jack’s Creek, Washington, installation in May of 2022. Since, trash traps have been added 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; three more on Marsh Creek in Raleigh (in partnership with the City of Raleigh, The Great Raleigh Cleanup and N.C. State University), a second Washington trash trap on a small tributary of Jack’s Creek, on Little Creek in the Town of Clayton and now a fifth on Walnut Creek.

The Town of Smithfield will be getting a trash trap in 2026 and the Town of Nashville is also considering locations for its own trash trap.

If you or your group would be interested in working for water quality by volunteering to clean out a trash trap or Adopt a Trash Trap for a month, check out the following:

More information about the Adopt A Trash Trap program.

Find out when and where the next trash trap cleanouts are scheduled — we’d love to have your help! Email emily@soundrivers.org.

Like Sound Rivers’ ever-expanding Litter-Free Rivers program? We definitely do! Donate today to help Litter-Free Rivers grow!

Photos were taken by Ian Pond, a member of Friends of Ellerbe Creek, who attended the trash trap installation as research into a potential Ellerbe Creek trash trap. Thanks for the photos, Ian!