Living Lands & Waters is a 501 (c) (3) environmental organization established by Chad Pregracke in 1998 and headquartered in East Moline, Illinois. Programs that Living Lands & Waters conduct are: Community River Cleanups, Big River Educational Workshops, MillionTrees Project, Riverbottom Forest Restoration and Adopt-a-River Mile.

:: Mission ::

To aid in the protection, preservation and restoration of the natural environment of the nation’s major rivers and their watersheds.

To expand awareness of environmental issues and responsibility encompassing the river.

To create a desire and an opportunity for stewardship and responsibility for a cleaner river environment.

:: History ::

1974-1989
Chad Pregracke grows up in a home located only 15 feet from the Mississippi River. He and his family spend most of their free time on or in it—fishing, boating, skiing, etc.

1989-1996
Chad and his brother, Brent, work together as commercial clammers, crawling on the bottom of the Mississippi, and living on the islands and shorelines. It is during this period that Chad takes notice of the accumulating garbage piles littering the river and begins to think of ways to remove it.

1995-1996
Chad begins calling every state agency, pleading for someone to pick up the refuse. He begins taking pictures of the large garbage piles and sends them in as proof of the problem. No response.

1997
Chad watches a NASCAR race and gets the idea to seek a corporate sponsor for the river cleanup. Chad receives his first sponsorship of $8,400.00 and begins working alone that summer.

In his first season, Chad removes 45,000 pounds of refuse from the Quad Cities area and people begin taking notice.

The local newspaper comes out to do a story on Chad’s work. The article makes front page and gets picked up by the Associated Press. It’s not long before many of the major networks are coming out to do a story on the young man who says he’s going to clean up the Mississippi River.

1998
Chad is amazed by all the people who are interested in his project. He decides to start a non-profit organization, Living Lands & Waters (LL&W), to further his river cleanup goals. He is just 23 years old at the time.

With the help of the national media, Chad is able to gain the support of other corporations and acquires the funding to build a small cleanup crew and fleet of boats.

He and his crew work a 435-mile stretch of the Mississippi, removing 400,000 pounds of garbage.

LL&W hosts its first community-based river cleanup in its home port, the Quad Cities, and works with 170 local volunteers.

1999
Chad and his crew expand coverage area and work for the first time on the Illinois River.

LL&W begins the Adopt-A-Mississippi River Mile Project, encouraging citizens to continue stewardship of the river by adopting a mile and keeping it clean.

2000
Chad and crew head back to the Mississippi River and add 3 barges to their fleet of boats. Using the barges to accumulate the garbage quickly adds to the efficiency of the project, making a dramatic visual reflecting the state of our rivers, and acting as a floating recycling center.

2001
The fleet and crew move to the Ohio River for the first time and later continue work on the Mississippi, hosting 16 community-based cleanups that season.

Biography Magazine selects Chad as one of the “Top Ten Future Classics of America.”

2002
LL&W crew upgrade their living quarters from a 42-foot houseboat to a 135-foot house barge, enjoying running water, a full kitchen, indoor plumbing, and heat for the first time.

Chad and crew host the largest cleanup of the Mississippi on record. Working with 52 organizations and 1,100 volunteers, LL&W removes 92 tons of garbage from the Twin Cities area.

Chad is invited by Coca-Cola to attend the World Summit of Sustainable Environments in Johannesburg, South Africa.

In June of 2002, Chad accepts the Jefferson Award for Public Service from First Lady, Laura Bush, in Washington, D.C. The Jefferson Award is America’s version of the Nobel Prize for Public Service. Other national winners are Rudolph Giuliani, Bill and Melinda Gates, and Lilly Tartikoff.

2003
LL&W broadens its scope by initiating two new major programs: Big River Educational Workshops and Riverbottom Forest Restoration Project. The workshops bring 295 teachers aboard LL&W’s floating classroom (aka the crew living room) to learn about the Mississippi River. The Riverbottom Forest Restoration Project puts 1,550 6-foot native hardwood trees into the ground along riverbanks and islands and removes 2 acres of invasive honeysuckle.

2004
LL&W moves operations out east for the first time and hosts Capital River Relief, a month-long cleanup of the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers. Working with over 50 groups and businesses and 800 volunteers, CRR removes over 50 tons of refuse from the waterways in our nation’s capital.

The workshops expand to the Missouri and Illinois Rivers and the LL&W crew plants over 20,000 trees in a five-state area.

2005
LL&W keeps on doing what it does best until Hurricane Katrina strikes the Gulf Coast. Within days, LL&W cancels all fall projects, doubles the crew size, unloads the barges of garbage and fills them up with building supplies. The fleet and crew head to New Orleans to assist with the relief efforts. Planning to stay for 4 weeks, the crew stays for nearly 10.

2006
LL&W continues to make an impact, hosting 64 community-based cleanups along seven of the nation’s largest rivers. Working with over 30,000 volunteers to date, LL&W estimates total refuse collected to be over 3 million pounds!

LL&W’s Big River Workshops host their first excursions–taking 60 teachers on a 3 or 4-day voyage up the Mississippi River.

LL&W expands Adopt-A-River Mile program to include the Illinois River.

2007
Chad releases his book From the Bottom Up: One Man’s Crusade to Clean America’s Rivers with National Geographic–the story of the creation and evolution of LL&W, its successes and challenges.

LL&W launches its newest endeavor—The MillionTrees Project. By starting its own nursery and soliciting the assistance from the community to collect acorns, this project aims to plant a million trees within the next 5 to 10 years.

WATCH >> ReelCYCLE: The Rivers’ Garbage Man on CBS News Video, Chad Pregracke

.: LivingLandsAndWaters.org :.