The Great Arkansas Cleanup in Pine Bluff will held Saturday, Oct. 27, at the Byrd Lake Natural Area beginning at 8:30 a.m.
The cleanup is open to volunteers of all ages. Check in stations will be located at the park entrance and all supplies are provided, according to a news release.
The Keep Arkansas Beautiful Commission sponsors two large scale cleanups annually — the Great American Cleanup in the spring and the Great Arkansas Cleanup in the fall.
“The Rotary Club of West Pine Bluff will be showing their support for the Great Arkansas Cleanup by rallying local citizens to come out to the Byrd Lake Natural Area for a much needed day of litter removal and community beautification,” according to the release.
Christine Cooley, a Jefferson County Cooperative Extension Stormwater agent, applauded the club’s efforts.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
“Rotary has been an active group in communities around world for more than 110 years,” Cooley said. “Here in Pine Bluff, members are active citizens, business owners, and professionals working to provide community service for the betterment of their city.”
“Their motto is ‘Others above Self,’ so when they asked me to participate in the Great Arkansas Cleanup, I was thrilled but not surprised. They are truly an inspirational group of people who want to make a difference,” Cooley said.
Volunteers are encouraged to participate in the Byrd Lake cleanup, but if they want to host their own Great Arkansas Cleanup, they may contact the Pine Bluff Clean and Beautiful Commission or register with the Keep Arkansas Beautiful at www.keeparkansasbeautiful.com, she said.
“Byrd Lake Natural Area is a scenic landscape of bald cypress trees and bottomland plant communities boarding an oxbow lake and the Bayou Bartholomew. Visitors frequent this area to walk the paved nature trail or to take in the abundant sights of wildlife. The Natural Area is set off the main thruway in town so it sees quite a bit of more ‘car tossing’ along the roadside than you might get in a more visible area. We would like to think that all residents are conscious of their actions and those impacts to their community, both environmentally and economically, but that’s just not always the case. Getting out and volunteering with local groups or picking up litter in your neighborhood are great ways protect our waterways from litter and to keep the place we live looking nice,” Cooley said.
The Jefferson County Cooperative Extension Service is part of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture which offers its programs to all eligible persons without discrimination.
Details: Christine L. Cooley, ccooley@uaex.edu or 534-1033.