Volunteers Surpass 7,000 mark

With many cleanups by our Adopt-A-Shoreline groups in the past month, we've now surpassed 7,000 volunteers since our founding in 2009!

We welcomed three new Adoption groups this month. The Naval Sea Cadets-Raleigh Battalion (above) adopted the new canoe/kayak launch site at the end of Poole Rd. East. Their first cleanup was Saturday and 10 energetic cadets removed 10 tires and 16 bags of trash.

The Bailey Family adopted the cove off Beaver Creek Arm near Tody Goodwin Rd. On Sunday, four of them removed 8 bags of trash and 4 tires.

The Jordan Lake Rowing Club adopted the East set of Wildlife Resources Commission Boat Ramps at Farrington Pt. They brought 25 volunteers for their first cleanup and removed 15 bags and 4 tires.

RES.us was back for their second cleanup last Friday. They have adopted two sites within Jordan Lake Park-- Ebenezer Church Boat Ramps and the Red Trail at New Hope Overlook. In addition to 26 bags and 3 tires, they removed 25 more of those nasty propane canisters from beneath the Beaver Creek Bridge.

Law++ returned for their 9th cleanup at the NC WRC Game Land Access on North East Creek, with 9 volunteers who removed 15 bags.

And in addition to the Adoption groups, the Envirothon Club at Margaret Pollard Middle School brought 20 to the shoreline north of Jordan Lake State Park Visitor Center. They removed 9 bags.

The volunteers ranged widely in age from middle schoolers to retirees. We experimented this year with asking some volunteers to turn their bags inside out to show the blue side to designate glass and plastic that would be taken away by Chatham County in a big recycle container. Separation of glass from plastic and discard of many unacceptable items that were too dirty or had residual liquids overwhelmed our volunteers. Most blue bags were destined unfortunately for the landfill instead. We need to rethink how to make it work.