Beaver Lake Cleanup more fun than work

Volunteers sort recyclables Saturday, July 8, 2017, at the Hobbs State Park - Conservation Area visitor center after taking part in the annual Lake Appreciation Month Cleanup around Beaver Lake near Rogers. The park partnered with Beaver Watershed Alliance, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Beaver Water District, Keep Arkansas Beautiful, The Northwest Arkansas Master Naturalists, Benton County agencies and corporate sponsors to coordinate the cleanup effort with volunteers in boats, on the shorelines and along roadways near Beaver Lake.
Volunteers sort recyclables Saturday, July 8, 2017, at the Hobbs State Park - Conservation Area visitor center after taking part in the annual Lake Appreciation Month Cleanup around Beaver Lake near Rogers. The park partnered with Beaver Watershed Alliance, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Beaver Water District, Keep Arkansas Beautiful, The Northwest Arkansas Master Naturalists, Benton County agencies and corporate sponsors to coordinate the cleanup effort with volunteers in boats, on the shorelines and along roadways near Beaver Lake.

The Beaver Lake Cleanup has been around so long that some of the volunteers who'll show up Saturday weren't on the planet yet when the first cleanup was held.

Alan Bland, park ranger with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, has helped run the event for 35 years. It may have started before that, he said.

Beaver Lake Cleanup

• The cleanup starts at 8 a.m. Saturday. Lunch and prize drawings begin at noon at Prairie Creek park.

• Volunteers may get free trash bags, souvenir T-shirt and lunch ticket at Prairie Creek, Hickory Creek, Rocky Branch or Dam Site parks after 8 a.m.

• Prize for the most unusual item found.

• Volunteers with boats needed. Call the Army Corps of Engineers’ Beaver Lake office, 479-636-1210, extension 1705.

Source: Staff report.

Over the decades, platoons of volunteers have turned out each September to spruce up the Beaver Lake shoreline after the summer visitor season. Another good showing is hoped for Saturday.

It's more fun than work. The cleanup is like a treasure hunt beside a beautiful lake. Volunteers never know what they'll find combing the shore and bagging up litter. There's even a contest for the most unusual item of litter du jour plucked from the shore. More on that in a bit, but here's how to get in on the fun.

Show up at Prairie Creek, Hickory Creek, Rocky Branch or Dam Site parks to get your trash bags and free souvenir T-shirt. You'll get a wrist band that gets you into the post-cleanup lunch and drawing for prizes at noon at Prairie Creek park's big picnic shelter.

What's on the menu this year? Pizza. Volunteers can chow down during the drawing for so many door prizes that almost every volunteer walks away with some loot.

Prizes include all manner of lake and outdoor gear, pontoon boat rentals, tickets to Silver Dollar City and lodging at the Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs.

A big need is for people with boats to take volunteers out to different areas of the lake. Hobbs State Park-Conservation Area will have its pontoon boat there, and Rocky Branch Marina is providing a boat, but more are needed, Bland said.

Skippers who can volunteer with their boat should call the corps office in Rogers, at 479-636-1210, extension 1705. The corps and Benton County Solid Waste District sponsor the cleanup.

Volunteers should keep their eyes out for the funkiest, the weirdest, the most unusual item out there. One person's litter can be another's treasure if it wins the contest for the most unusual item.

Bring it to the lunch at Prairie Creek and enter it. There will be a swell prize for the winner in the adult and youth divisions. The only rules are it should be something that one person can carry. Contestants should take their item home with them or put it in the trash when they leave.

Bland will never forget one unusual find. A contestant one year brought an old beat up baseball cap to the contest. Turned out it was Bland's old Army Corps of Engineers ball cap he'd lost out on the lake long ago. It still had his name written on the inside.

That's a memory Bland will remember, as this is his last year to be part of the cleanup as a ranger. He's retiring next month after a 35-year career with the corps. Few know as much about the big lake as Bland, and are as willing to share the joy with people in the hundreds of programs and interviews he's given over the decades.

So the cleanup will be a good chance to shake his hand and say best wishes to the ranger we call "Mr. Beaver Lake," and give him a rousing send off.

Flip Putthoff can be reached at fputthoff@nwadg.com.

Sports on 09/18/2018

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