Iowa Project AWARE 2025

Iowa Project AWARE (A Watershed Awareness River Expedition) is an annual volunteer river cleanup that moves to a different river and watershed each year. Since Iowa Project AWARE began in 2003, nearly 6500 volunteers have removed tons of trash from nearly 1500 miles of rivers across Iowa with 82% of the trash recycled. Each year a new segment of an Iowa river is chosen to be paddled for 1 week by over 200 volunteers a day. The 22nd annual Iowa Project AWARE, scheduled for July 13-18, 2025, will bring hundreds of volunteers to Iowa, where they'll clean up and recycle trash from the Shell Rock/Winnebago watershed in eastern Iowa. We anticipate 300 to 350 volunteers will participate in 2025. Iowa Project AWARE provides an outdoor recreational experience that encourages discovery, education and camaraderie in a fun, family-friendly, supportive environment for all volunteers. This bold community engagement opportunity immerses volunteers in the issues that face the health of our rivers and the people that rely on our rivers. Volunteers spend up to a week strengthening the community by helping preserve wildlife friendly rivers through their clean-up efforts. In addition, Iowa Project AWARE provides hands-on, real-time opportunities for volunteers to learn more about the rivers water quality, archeology, ecology, geology and cultural history through educational programs offered during the week of Iowa Project AWARE.