The Janet Huckabee Nature Center received some T-L-C last weekend from many volunteers as part of the Great Arkansas Clean Up event! 5NEWS Meteorologist, Sean Bailey, takes us to those volunteers, taking the trash out of our parks in this week’s Adventure Arkansas.
From Wells Lake to the miles of trails, there are so many opportunities for families utilize the Janet Huckabee River Valley Nature Center. Last Saturday, several families gave back by cleaning up after other people who have left their mark with litter.
Nature Center Educator, Karen Westcamp-Johnson, says this is the 9th year for the Great Arkansas Clean Up. “Every year we end up cleaning somewhere around 6 miles worth of Nature Center grounds and lake that ends up being 30 to 40 bags of litter."
Arah and her son, Aaron, have been a part of the clean up for a few years, starting with their cub scouts group. "We just really want to keep the Nature Center’s trails clean so it can last as long as possible."
And it appears that with Arah’s and other families help, they are helping the Nature Center win the war on litter.
Karen Westcamp-Johnson explains. “Initially when we started the clean up, we would be cleaning up dump sites where people would illegally dump things out here or there would be bigger items like mattresses and tires and big stuff. But over time, that has lessened and it’s more of just your everyday litter."
Paul Martin and his daughter discovered many bottle caps and litter around the rope web. Meanwhile the Rackum family found the unusual find of the day, underwear.
Kelsey and her daughter have some advice for others using the center. "If everyone just cleaned up their own trash, it would stay clean."
Karen says this event transcends just cleaning up the litter. "The main reason to me is it encourages everyone to keep the area clean. The second thing is that it gets families out doing something environmentally conscious. The more that you can do to get people out makes them aware of things they can do to improve their own environment."
In addition to the trails and the lake, there are plenty of regular programs going on at the Nature Center. To see a full list of that, click here.
Segment Sponsored by: Adventure Subaru
