10/12/2026
Here’s some good news that is inspiring and motivating us this week: Friends of the Tug Fork River, Inc. have now officially removed 🛞20,000 tires🛞 from the Tug Fork River. 🤯 Laura Gregory, KWA's Watershed Program Director, joined the The Friends of the Tug Fork River (FOTTFR) for a Tire Tug of War cleanup event in August and wrote this piece about the experience.
DOLLY, a RIVER, and a TIRE TUG OF WAR:
The mountains got steeper and taller, the kudzu thicker, as I drove through the winding roads of Eastern KY. In the light of a clear blue morning, I was singing along with Dolly Parton as the fog settled high in the hilltops when I crossed the bridge over the beautiful Tug Fork River from South Williamson KY to Williamson, WV where I would join the Friends of the Tug Fork River behind the flood wall for a Tire Tug of War.
I was welcomed with friendly smiles, handshakes, and hugs. People were already lowering john boats down the bank to the riverside. John Burchett, a Friends of the Tug Fork River (FOTTFR ) leader, came over to me with the news, “The water’s up about six inches higher than we usually do these cleanups. The hydratrek is not working. Bogged down. Overheating. They’re working on it and hopefully it will be up and running soon. For now, we’ll stage the tires and use the john boats to get them back to this bank.”
I admit, I was disappointed because the hydratrek is one of the unique aspects of FOTTFR cleanups, and was the main attraction I’d gone to see in action. The hydratrek is a heavy duty, multi-purpose, amphibious vehicle (MPAV) built with rubber tracks and a marine-grade aluminum body. It drives across rugged land, sticky mud, and seamlessly floats into deep water using integrated bronze propellers. This machine can remove tires, huge tires, heavy equipment tires, that cannot be safely removed by human power alone. This equipment is owned and operated by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WV DEP) who works closely with FOTTFR on their tire removal efforts. Using this type of equipment, FOTTFR and WV DEP have been able to remove 20,000 tires in 7 years. If Kentucky could add this type of equipment and supporting personnel, we could accomplish larger, more difficult, waterway tire removal efforts across the commonwealth.
So, we removed the tires the old fashioned way. Volunteers (12) used handmade tire hooks to pry 251 tires from less than a .3 mile section of the Tug Fork River. The hydratrek never got back to operational on this day, so we lugged the tires on the john boats to the bank where WV DEP wrapped them with a cable and used a tractor to w***h them up the steep bank. They then used the tractor to move the tires into a box truck where they will later be transported to their tire dump while the rest of the volunteers enjoyed lunch in the shade of the flood wall.
Before I started my drive back home, worn out and proud of the work that we just accomplished together, I took a moment to marvel at the beautiful Tug Fork River, freshened up, running swift and clear, with fish striking the water surface and a green heron perched on a branch. I thought about the new friends I just made during this one-of-a-kind, type two fun, and a Dolly quote came to mind, "If your actions create a legacy that inspires others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, then, you are an excellent leader." KWA is incredibly grateful for watershed stewards, leaders, and groups like FOTTFR that do the hard work that makes a positive improvement on our water, environment, and human health and inspires others to do the same.
The Friends of the Tug Fork River is a grassroots nonprofit organization dedicated to restoring and protecting the Tug Fork watershed, preserving local history, and boosting adventure ecotourism. Since founding their signature "Tire Tug of War" cleanup initiative in 2019, this volunteer-driven group has battled decades of illegal dumping to revitalize the river. Partnering with local volunteers, community groups, and the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, they have pulled waste tires out of the river mud and banks, clear-cutting a path toward a cleaner, healthier waterway for generations to come.
The Tug Fork River is a 159-mile waterway that flows through the rugged Appalachian Mountains of southwestern West Virginia. Part of the Big Sandy River basin, the river twists northwest to form a natural border between West Virginia and Kentucky before merging with the Levisa Fork to form the Big Sandy River.
