By TAYLOR BROWN
Some Mon Valley residents have taken their passion for floating and turned it into a mission to help the environment and their second home — the Yough River.
Ryan Burg of McKeesport and a group of new friends have made summer float trips more meaningful than just a fun time on the water. The group has pulled hundreds of tires from the river in the past few weeks.
Burg met fellow river enthusiast Michael Lee Keenist Jr. of Buena Vista about three months ago.
“I bought an old boat offline and took it up the river. Mike had seen this old boat online too, recognized it and waved me down to check it out when I drove by,” Burg said. “After a short chat we realized we followed the same few boat forums online. We had a few laughs and Mike graciously gave us some rations so we could make it back home to McKeesport.”
On two trips in recent weeks, Burg, Keenist and a host of new friends and family members have pulled hundreds of tires from the water.
“I’ve barely known Mike three months, but on the river you meet people who feel like old friends the first time you meet,” Burg said. “Mike asked us to come on a fun float where we saw all the tires due to low water with our dry summer. We talked about pulling them, how expensive jerky is, and made a few wagers on how many we could get.”
Burg, who has contacts with the non-profit Allegheny Cleanways, started brainstorming.
“When we found out they would take the tires free of charge, we decided to push for donations for them since they had to halt all group volunteer cleanups due to COVID-19,” Burg said. “I help manage a boat repair business and asked a few vendors to sponsor us so we could donate to Allegheny Cleanways for bringing their dump truck.”
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