MAYFLOWER — The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission will host the second of three shoreline cleanups at Lake Conway from 8 a.m.-4 p.m. May 16-18.
According to Nick Feltz, regional fisheries supervisor at the AGFC’s Mayflower office, dumpsters will actually be available for disposal of lakebed trash May 16-19, but the AGFC will only hold organized cleanups during the first three days of the cleanup opportunity.
Dumpsters will be available at the Highway 89 Bridge Access, the Paradise Road ArDOT Pull-off, Lawrence Landing and Caney Creek Access.
Staff and volunteers removed roughly 25 tons of trash and a mountain of tires from the lakebed during the first cleanup in April. Central Arkansas Rolloff Dumpsters donated the use of the dumpsters, only charging the AGFC for the tonnage of trash collected.
Feltz says the litter will become harder to find as the grass in the lakebed continues to grow, hence the need to do the cleanups before summer sets in.
“It’s also still more likely to be comfortable temperatures this month and next month,” Feltz said. “Picking up trash in the lakebed can be tough enough without the summer sun blazing down on you.”
Participants are highly encouraged to wear rubber boots and insect repellent while on the lakebed, and heavy leather gloves will help prevent any cuts when handling broken glass or metal.
“There are still remnants of debris from tornadoes that hit the lake years ago, despite major cleanup efforts immediately following those events,” Feltz said. “There definitely were a few unusual items collected during the first cleanup.”
As an added incentive to reward volunteers who participate in the cleanup, the Arkansas Game and Fish Foundation has donated two $100 gift cards to Academy Sports and Outdoors that will be given away in a drawing including all cleanup participants who register online and check in with an AGFC group cleanup.
If you would like to participate, sign up at www.agfc.com/LakeConway to receive updates on cleanup locations. Any residents who need collection materials for independent cleanup efforts can contact Nick Feltz at Nicholas.Feltz@agfc.ar.gov.
“I’ll be sending a daily email to online registrants to tell them where AGFC staff will be cleaning up that next day,” Feltz said.
Feltz stressed that the dumpsters provided are only to be used for trash collected from the lake.
“Overall everyone did a great job reserving the dumpsters for lake litter, but we did have some people dump furniture and construction waste into the dumpsters,” Feltz said. “Since the cost of the dumpsters is based on the amount collected, people abusing these dumpsters are actually taking away from the budget we have for lake improvements, so please keep that in mind if you see people dumping house trash or construction refuse in the dumpsters.”
