BY Bend Bulletin

Phones, flip-flops and beer bottles are the booty of Byron Leisek.

The 29-year-old Bend resident scooped up such trash while scuba diving Monday morning in the Deschutes River. He swam with trout in the roughly 50-degree water that had about five feet of visibility, and is one of several people who regularly helps clean up the river while enjoying his passion — diving.

“It’s a small group of die-hards,” said Ryan Houston with the Upper Deschutes Watershed Council. The nonprofit helps organize an annual river cleanup with scuba divers and other volunteers.

Up to 300 people usually participate, and half a dozen are divers. They have found everything from shopping carts to a safe.

“Of course, it was open, so no pirate gold,” Houston said.

One year, Central Oregon Diving co-owner Walt Bolton even discovered what at first looked like a human.

“I found the bottom half of a mannequin sticking up out of the mud,” he said.

The cleanup happens only in May, but throughout the year divers like Leisek volunteer their own time to pick up trash.

He got into the water at about 9:45 a.m. Monday with fellow diver Corky Wray, 31, another Bend resident.

Under sunny skies, the men entered the river near the Bill Healy Memorial Bridge and swam downstream for about a mile in relatively clear water that was typically 4 to 10 feet deep. While diving, Wray and Leisek combed through the bottom of the river, looking for trash and enjoying the rocks below.

“They look like hundreds of turtles down there because they’re very round,” said Leisek, who wore a dry suit, boots, gloves — even jeans and long johns. “It’s so pretty.”

The two divers got coins, golf balls and two cell phones with the help of small mesh bags.

They also found a pair of shorts and a thong.

“I don’t know if those two were related,” Leisek said.

More than an hour later, the two divers emerged near the Old Mill District.

It was Wray’s first time diving in this stretch of the Deschutes, but he also has put in above Benham Falls near the Sunriver boat ramp.

Leisek has gone five times in this stretch alone. He also dives in Waldo Lake, Clear Lake and other bodies of water.

Both men are certified divers, and Leisek has dived 36 times total in the last 14 months alone.

“I just fell in love with it,” he said.

Leisek got into diving about two years ago after accidently crushing his foot in a hydraulic concrete press.

“Once I got in the water, I felt normal again, not disabled,” he said. “It was great. There was no limping in the water. … That’s why I love it. It was really, really good for my mental healing.”

Now when Leisek dives in the Deschutes, he typically brings up a bag of beer cans each time. Once, he found two tires with the wheels still on them.

Wray said he also likes to help clean up the river, but does diving more for the crawfish.

“It’s just another place to hunt and fish,” he added.

And for Bolton, it’s all about the experience.

“It’s an excuse to go diving.”

Christopher Stollar can be reached at 617-7818 or cstollar@bendbulletin.com.

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