|
Monday, 28 April 2008 |
|
 Staff photo/B.J. Bethel
Two area residents comb the West Bank area of Grand Lake St. Marys Saturday as part of Lake Cleanup Day.
By B.J. BETHEL
Assistant Managing Editor
CELINA — Grand Lake St. Marys State Park and the Lake Improvement Association combined efforts Saturday to host Lake Cleanup Day.
Members of both organizations and volunteers collected garbage along the lake at the West Bank, East Bank and Windy Point areas.
LIA President Bill Ringo said the organizations have been doing Lake Cleanup Day for at least 12 years.
“Some folks get out in their boats and try to gather things that aren’t easy to pick up from the land,” Ringo said. “Generally, we are just sprucing up the lake shore.”
The state park furnishes trash bags for volunteers who want to clean up the shoreline while the LIA provides refreshments. Ringo said a variety of volunteers have helped out in the project over the years. The weather, which was a bit cool and overcast Saturday morning, is often an indicator of how many volunteers they would get.
“Some years you could get maybe 30 or 40 at each location,” Ringo said. “A lot depends on how well it is advertised and if people take notice. Sometimes the Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts will come our and sometimes the school kids come out.”
Ringo said the event was advertised in several state park magazines.
Usually the LIA is active in trying to improve the water quality in Grand Lake St. Marys. Lake Cleanup Day gives the group an opportunity to help in a different way. A clean lake makes it more attractive to tourists who seek recreation opportunities.
“There has been a lot of negative press about the lake, which is usually pretty accurate in my opinion,” Ringo said. “But at least this shows the community really cares about the lake and would like to keep it looking as best as we can.”
Keeping the lake attractive to tourists is important to the local economy. Ringo said estimates have as many as 2,700 local jobs tied into the lake.
“A good indicator is that there are 72 or 73 state parks and they bring in a $1 billion that they can account for,” Ringo said. “At least 50 million people visit Ohio state parks. If we just get our fair share that could be half a million visitors in the area. We need to do anything we can to attract that, either through fishing, quality water or boating. It all goes together.” |
|
Last Updated ( Monday, 05 May 2008 )
|
