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More than 77,000 miles of rivers and streams crisscross Alabama, providing a home to some of the country's most biologically diverse species of freshwater plants and animals. E N V I R O N M E N T Keeping the State's Waters Clean 2 7 As manager of 11 lakes fed by these rivers, Alabama Power has a vested interest in keeping state waterways clean and healthy. Here are three ways the company is helping conserve and nurture these valuable freshwater resources. Renew Our Rivers What started in 1999 with a single Alabama Power employee picking up trash along the Coosa River near Gadsden has grown into Renew Our Rivers, a nationally recognized campaign that cleans river systems in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi and Florida. Working with thousands of volunteers, Alabama Power employees have removed more than 12 million pounds of bottles, cans, tires, refrigerators, boats and other debris from state waterways. This year, the program is holding more than 30 cleanup events in Alabama. Freshwater Land Trust A nonprofit organization, the Freshwater Land Trust works with individual landowners, other nonprofits, corporations and local, state and federal governments to purchase or preserve land along rivers or creeks to protect water quality and open space. This summer, the Alabama Power Foundation donated $30,000 to help the Land Trust build the Moon River Canoe Launch on the Cahaba River near Leeds. When completed in 2014, the launch will be the first recreational site developed as part of the Cahaba Blueway Project, an effort to promote better access to the waterway. Alabama Scenic River Trail Stretching for 631 miles from the Georgia line to the Gulf of Mexico, the Alabama Scenic River Trail is the nation's longest river trail located in one state. The trail gives canoeists, kayakers and boaters the chance to paddle and power through seven rivers, two creeks, nine lakes and the country's second largest river delta. Alabama Power has been a part of the trail since it opened in 2008 by helping create portages around 10 dams it operates on the Coosa and Tallapoosa Rivers.