NBAA Helps Clean Up in Nebraska!

A good sportsman will participate in a lake cleanup once a year.  A good steward is a lake cleanup, every time they go to the lake.

Recycled Fish Ambassador and 24 Hour Fish-A-Thon Team Leader Arron Slater and NBAA Director Jayme Goebel changed the nature of Nebraska’s Yankee Hill lake, and in the process may have saved fish and wildlife, preserved access to the lake, and undeniably improved the quality of the experience out at the lake.

Arron says, “I don’t exactly know where it came from, but it looked like something some kids threw together to act like a boat. Not sure how sturdy it was, as when I stepped on it, it started to sink. Very light weight, except for the 4 X 8 particle board on top.”

Styrofoam is especially destructive in the ecosystem because it never biodegrades, but breaks down into tiny toxic beads. Birds, fish and mammals can eat these and be poisoned or at least the foam particles take up space in their stomachs.

Arron said that it took Jayme Goebel (Director of NBAA Division 54), and himself about 1/2 an hour to tie it up and drag it through the water back to the boat dock, and another 15 minutes to tear it up and dispose of it in the onsite dumpster. 

“This was disgraceful and looked like a boat wreck. We are the ones who should all take that extra hour to take care of things like this, rather than just stare at them and complain,” added Slater.

When he’s not making lakes a better place, Arron runs Dragon’s Custom Rods. In fact, he donates a rod each month to our Challenge to Stewards.

Originally Published: recyclefish.org