One thing about spending anytime with Matt is that it can be quite an educational experience pertaining to nature, wildlife, habitats and anything outdoor related. I enjoyed the conversation and learning experience as much as the fishing. The fishing was a lot of fun and we caught some beautiful perch, along with some small mouth and spotted bass.
Matt had something else on his mind however, and it was something he wanted to share. This past summer he travelled to Montana and floated down the Swan River. While there Matt became quite impressed with the efforts of a group of people known as Swan Lakers (swanlakers.com).
The Swan Lakers are quite proud of their beautiful little river and one of their goals is to keep the river as free of litter and as pristine as possible. These folks come up with a great idea of building a station that would house free litter bags to anyone using the river. Matt believes a similar program would work on Blue River.
Yesterday I sent a dispatch to the Swan Lakers organization and within thirty minutes received a most enthusiastic reply from a lady named Kitty. And, it just so happens that her husband Denny was the person who designed and built that free trash bag station.
Kitty and Denny were kind enough to share everything about their program including dimensions of the station and they also sent pictures which I gladly share here. It's a simple concept actually and according to Kitty this program worked so well it's first year there was hardly any trash for their group to collect off the river the weekend after Labor Day.
The trash bag itself is a mesh bag measuring 19 X 11 and comes from a company in Georgia. The cost of the bag is about 26 cents each, which is a bargain.
Personally I'd like to see at least four of these stations erected on Blue River. I believe the doer of such a task will approach the job at hand with a gladdened intent and see the project through and successful.
There should be no rest in the endless war against litter on the lady Blue, or any stream for that matter, and if we waver in our resolute efforts then our wild area can become fraught with refuse.
I know there are many who love the Blue River and will not shy from performing great services when it comes to taking care of nature.
Good luck with that Barry. Something tells me, through experience, that the worst offenders could care less. I hope this effort succedes for you.
ReplyDeleteGregg