National Publics Lands Day Cleanup

A dozen volunteers from Longleaf Ridge Texas Master Naturalists scoured the steep, overgrown slopes below Sam Rayburn Reservoir on Saturday morning, September 14, to celebrate National Public Lands Day by picking up trash. Lori Horne coordinated the event with Abigail Bobette, the Corps on Engineers Park Ranger, who was absolutely thrilled with the resulting 25 bags of garbage in their dumpster instead of on the banks of our beautiful lake at this popular fishing site.

“It’s a shame when you can sit down and pick up trash,” remarked volunteer Don Fralick as he perched on a guard rail working on a pile. “Oh, I’ve already broken my picker-upper!” lamented Joanie Kochanek, as she was trying to retrieve a glass beer bottle half buried in the sand. All of the volunteers had fun making this public area more presentable, but there was of course, the underlying wish that that everyone who visits would pack out their own trash, making this work unnecessary.

This event was part of our Trashoff Challenge! It began July 26 and will end November 5, 2019. Pick up anywhere in Jasper or Newton Counties. Take before and after pictures, and be sure to get a picture of your participants and how many trash bags you picked up. The goal is to see who or which team picks up the most trash!