Pete is joined by University of Arkansas storm water educator Jane Maginot to discuss three upcoming volunteer clean-up opportunities in northwest Arkansas.
Pete Hartman: It's the Community Spotlight on KUAF. I'm Pete Hartman. Each fall, volunteers throughout this great region come together to remove litter from parks, streets, and waterways around Northwest Arkansas. With us today to talk about it, Jane Maginot, County Extension Agent, Stormwater Educator with University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture Cooperative Extension Service, a Community Spotlight veteran. How are you?
Jane Maginot: Thanks, Pete. Thanks for having me. We'd like to really bring home the message of what happens on our streets ends up in our creeks. So any trash that's left on our streets, when it rains, washes through our storm drain system into our creeks. And what happens is that our beautiful creeks and streams and waterways of Northwest Arkansas get impacted with all this trash that's in there.
So we involve community volunteers to come out and pick up that trash and make our recreational areas pretty.
Pete Hartman: Kind of a good time to do this in the fall before maybe all of the leaves cover up some of this stuff.
Jane Maginot: Yeah, we're kind of in a sweet spot—those leaves cover it up in the fall, so after November, it gets difficult to find the trash because it's covered by leaves, but also our water levels are lower this time of year versus say in the springtime when those creeks are really up high and it can be dangerous to get in there and get to that trash that's in the waterways.
Also, we have Beaver Lake Volunteer Day that's happening on September 27th. So that one's pretty quick. I also want to point out October 7th, the guys at Peel Compton are letting us get into the wetlands. Now this is normally closed for kayaks, but they're going to let us bring in boats — we can get in there to get that trash removed, that's catching a lot of that Bentonville litter. And then also Lake Sequoia and Middle Fork cleanup happening on October 18th. Three big ones we need lots of hands on deck to help out with.
Pete Hartman: Anyone can go out on their own and do this stuff, maybe even on your own property?
Jane Maginot: Absolutely, on your property, near your house, on your street, go out for a walk. If you need help finding supplies, depending on what city you're in, they can help you or you can reach out to us and we can kind of coordinate or Keep Arkansas Beautiful will always send you supplies to help you clean up litter.
So anytime you volunteer to clean up with one of our cleanups, you get entered to win prizes from WOKA Water Park, OAR out on the War Eagle, or Gracie's Canoe up on the Elk River are all giving away float trips or cabin rentals. And then also Boulevard Brewing, they're going to do a big wrap up celebration event. So if you participate, you're going to be invited to come out for free food and beverages at a date to be determined.
Pete Hartman: Oh, cool. Well, we'll get back with you and we'll talk about that.
Jane Maginot: Perfect.
Pete Hartman: Awesome. Jane Maginot, thanks so much. Thank you.
