By Richard Uhlhorn
The first annual Beach Cleanup in the Wapato Basin was a huge success. The 35 students from the Chelan Project and the estimated 30+ adult residents who turned out to pick up garbage on the beaches from Lakeside Park to the Lookout Marina and from the east side of Wapato Point toward the Mill Bay launch. Also a crew picked up garbage from the east side of Rocky Point and the CVE Marina to the first Chelan Hills dock.
At the rendezvous point in Lake Chelan Marina, both Phil Long – Lake Chelan Research Institute and Maleigha Peterson – Chelan Project leader both instructed the participants on where and what they would be doing.
Long introduced other leaders like Lisa Dowling from Chelan County Resources and the Keep It Blue program (keepitbluelakechelan.org) and encouraged people to call him at the Research Institute with questions or interest in volunteering (509-531-2987).
He and Peterson told participants to not only pick up trash, but if they find any invasive aquatic weed fragments to pick them up also to help stop the spread of invasive milfoil and pond weed.
Campbell’s Lodge opened its doors to participants after the event and served hot chocolate. “They opened up a ballroom for us,” said Long. “It was filled with a third students and adult volunteers after the clean-up.” The City of Chelan and the Planning Association of Washington also participated. Unfortunately, Pilgrim Lake Services was unable to help due to a conflict.
Long said that Clayton Watkins is building a database so people can sign-up and select what parts of the beach they want to cover at next year’s Restore the Beach event.
All Things Lake Chelan 