On his first trip to Clam Bayou Nature Park, a 10-acre preserve on the outskirts of St. Petersburg, FL, kayak tour operator Kurt Zuelsdorf and his daughter went to see the herons, spoonbills, and egrets native to the area, and couldn't believe what they found instead: paper bags and plastic bottles hanging from trees, milk jugs and soda cans crunching underfoot, partially submerged engines and shopping carts rusting under blankets of moss.

In an effort to clean it all up, Zuelsdorf, who owns Kayak Nature Adventures in Gulfport, FL, applied for and won a community-education grant from the Southwest Florida Water Management District to take a fleet of volunteers out in kayaks and collect the garbage. In 10 weeks, they amassed an amazing 11,000 pounds of junk. Blue Egg talked to Zuelsdorf about communicating with animals (he can), his zero-carbon Green Machine (it truly is), and their best find yet amid the trash: Bayou Betty, a life-size blow-up doll.

What exactly is going on with the trash at Clam Bayou Nature Park? Why is there so much of it?
Well, Clam Bayou is an actual estuary-a semi-enclosed, coastal body of water with freshwater entries. We have two of these entries, and they're part of the old stormwater drainage system that was designed back in the '20s. Every gutter and storm drain in every street of 1,700 acres-all drain into those two creeks, unfiltered. When we get heavy rain, especially the tropical storm rains, the garbage comes flowing into Clam Bayou with no restrictions. The last time we had a heavy rain, I was down there watching where these two creeks converge. When that water from the streets hits the bayou, it doesn't just gradually come in; it comes in a four-foot wall of water, carrying tons of debris: shopping carts, chairs, bottles, cans. It comes down through the bayou at about 20 miles per hour. The force of that water coming in could carry a car down into there, it's coming so hard and so fast.

So did the green lightbulb go on for you when you first saw the trash?
Yes. There are little boardwalks that jut out into the swamp onto observation platforms and decks, and it's astounding what you can see. Bottles and paper bags, hanging from trees. Cans and chairs and milk crates and shopping carts, old crab traps, lawn equipment, toys...trash was everywhere! I knew there was a problem by reading the paper, but to actually walk down there and see it for myself was tough. At first, I was just appalled. Then it turned to anger. And then, I turned around and looked and saw a blue heron standing right next to a bleach bottle, trying to figure out how to get at the fish underneath the bottle. It was like, Aha. This is going to be simple. The birds and the wildlife are what inspired the program.

From what you've observed since you started the cleanup in March [2007], have you been able to see what effect that garbage is having on the animals?
Yeah, you can see it in the diminishing numbers of animals. But birds seem to be coming back, because they don't have to jump from beer cans to soda bottles to shopping carts to try to get at the food!

How do you stay upbeat despite the endless amounts of trash?
The places that we have saved-we've watched life come back there on the next day! There are channels that have been completely altered because of the garbage. Some of them we have saved by removing the debris that was blocking the flow of water. The garbage settles in, the dirt settles in around the bottles, another layer of bottles, another layer of dirt, channel closed. Once that circulation gets closed off, the water in there starts to become stagnant. It doesn't attract wildlife. Fish don't breed in it; fish don't grow in it!

We pulled three or four shopping carts out of the one little spot that had a channel and was just about completely blocked off. Within seven weeks, that channel that was two inches deep is now three feet deep. And it did it by itself! That was miraculous to watch! Then the fish start running down the channel, the birds come back, the fiddler crabs start making their homes back on the shoreline because of the fresh circulation of water. We've done that with about four main arteries. We go out there now, and we look at it like, "I can't believe what that looked like just 10, 11 weeks ago!" Taking out garbage has really restored life to the bayou.

Is there an environmental trend that you find particularly alarming?
Water bottles. They're everywhere! Just when I think that I'm in an area that nobody's been to for years and years, I find empty water bottles! And I am miles from any trail, miles from any road, in the middle of a swamp, and there's a freakin' water bottle!

The quality of our drinking water is going down, so people are more dependent on bottled water. My quick and easy fix is to carry a bottle with a water filter that I fill up at every water fountain. I think my water bottle is about 15 bucks, and combined with my filter, which is good for about a year, I save a lot on bottled water by using that. I take it everywhere I go! It's always with me.

So, what magic power over the environment would you most like to have?
Yeah, that's a good question! I'm going to tell you this, and I know it's on a recorder, but...I believe that I have the ability to communicate with animals. If I had a new power, it would be to increase that ability to communicate with those animals. I can call all kinds of different birds. I can call deer. I can call elk, moose, bear. I can call them from miles away, and they come close. I use calls I learned as a hunter, but now I use them to observe the wildlife. Then I realized that I could talk to them. Even outside of the bayou birds get close to me, but I don't use birdcalls. I talk just like I'm talking to you. And I have a conversation with them. Whether I'm talking to myself or not, I don't know. But they don't fly away! They will sit right there, be calm and cool, and they'll eat their fish. I would love to be able to expand that power. Whether or not somebody will call me Dr. Doolittle, I don't know.

Dr. Doolittle! Dr. Z! That is crazy. Should I believe you?
Come down and take a tour with me, and I'll prove it!

That's what I call a "full-service nature tour." And you see more than just animals, right? What's the weirdest piece of trash you've seen in the bayou?
Bayou Betty, the blow-up doll. The day we found it, I was amazed, embarrassed, appalled, and impressed, all at the same time. The lady in the picture brought it back, and that...that doggone find, I tried to keep it quiet. But one of the news crews came up and asked, "So what's the weirdest thing you've found?" And I said it. Since then, that "trophy" has been the talk of the town. I get emails from across the country wondering about that doll.

That's so funny! The fact that something like that could end up in the water system is just...
In a park! It had been out there for a while. I estimated that it was probably out there for about a year covered in mud. The woman who found it first found one of the breasts sticking up, and she went over and looked at it. Then she started uncovering it, and kept on digging and pulling. When she came back, it looked like her kayak was being powered by a motor, she was moving so fast. "You will never believe what I found!" She wouldn't show us at first. She wanted to wash it off, get it cleaned up, and make a good presentation of it. When she did, the whole crowd just fell apart. There were people in the crowd just dying! The ladies-who make up about 98 percent of my volunteers-they were just fascinated by how anatomically correct it was. I was just embarrassed. I had to walk away. So, we're entertaining the idea of bringing back Betty, and actually putting clothes on her, and hiding her out there. And whoever finds her and brings back Betty will get a dinner for two at one of the local restaurants.

Well, that would be a great event! You know: Bring back Bayou Betty!
She's certainly the trophy. Some of the other ones are good, too. The 1949 silver dollar that some guy found. He sold it for 15 bucks on eBay. Piggy banks are always exciting. We're always fascinated by the idea that Al Capone owned over half of the Clam Bayou back in the '20s. So we're always kidding each other that we might find a body out there.

So whom would you choose to be your kayak buddy?
I'd like to spend some time with my wife out there. You know, when we get together and talk about the possibilities that we have for our future, miracles happen fast. And Oprah, she'd be number two. I would love to be able to have her come out. And whether she brings the cameras or not isn't important to me. But to show powerful people in our community, in our world, how this program can work, how it can impact the world...I know that it's going to take powerful people like that to share it.

You call the original team of volunteers you assembled the Green Machine. Where did that name come from?
After about the third week of cleanup, I realized that I had a pretty good group of volunteers that just wanted to keep coming out. I wanted to give them a name. And I struggled with a green name for them for a while. I wanted to call it the Green Army, but then I thought that I don't want anything to do with an army. I don't want to have anything to do with wars these days. So I thought, This particular group operates like a machine, and yet it's eco-friendly. It doesn't use any gas. It gives people exercise. It's doing a good thing. Let's just call it the Green Machine. That kind of stuck.

Can the Green Machine save the world?
Wow. I know that it can make a difference. Um, does the world need to be saved? I guess I hate to answer a question with a question, but I know that it can make a difference. Given what we've done so far, I believe that it's possible. There is no benefit to the world, or to me, by thinking any other way. There is no benefit for me to be negative. There is no benefit for the wildlife, or for the world, to think that it's not possible. So yes, I'm going to have to say that it is possible for the Green Machine to save the world.

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