Litter Begone!

If you hate litter, as most of us Master Naturalist types do, here’s an opportunity to make a difference!

This Saturday, October 9, meet at the gazebo at the 700 Downing Pines Rd. entrance to Restoration Park in West Monroe at 7 a.m. That’s right in front of the Ouachita Green office.

Wear work gloves and waterproof boots and bring a trash picker if you have one. We hope to have some extras borrowed from Friends of Black Bayou; however, a lot can be done with gloves. LMN-NE will provide trash bags.

A pocket knife or pen knife is also useful for cutting out trash entangled in roots or cutting plastic that is partly buried.

LMN-NE has taken on the task of clearing litter from “Jungle River,” which runs through Restoration Park. The Paxtons have done the bulk of the work so far. This is an excellent opportunity for many more of us to get involved.

Jungle River is a delight. Willows and taro plants line its banks. It is home to native birds, amphibians and insects, and a variety of other critters leave their tracks in the soft banks.

The river has a natural gravel bed and, in fact, the park was once an industrially mined gravel pit. Then it became a garbage dump, so today the trash that mars its beauty is a mix of new and old–new brought into the park from it’s much larger drainage area and old that resurfaces after every heavy rain.

We’re planning to do another litter pick from kayaks at Black Bayou Lake later this month or in November. For those who are certified, these are great opportunities to do your required volunteer hours.

BTW, I will not be able to participate this time. The Paxtons are in charge of this event and will have a sign-in form that constitutes a liability waiver, as is our practice.

Note: Photos in the post are by Charles & Kim Paxton.