Waterways Cleanup adds Oak Creek

The organization is including Oak Creek in its twice-annual Waterways Cleanup, which is set for Saturday, Nov. 22. In addition to tidying up Oak Creek, volunteers will do their usual sweep of the Imperial River, Estero Bay and Fish Trap Bay.

"For the life of me, I can't understand why people haul this stuff to the water instead of taking it to the curb," said Conservancy President Bob Gordee.

Everyone is invited to help. Volunteers are needed along all waterways. Those who don't have boats of their own will be assigned to participating vessels. For the Oak Creek portion of the event, organizers are looking for people with skiffs and jon boats, which can be easily maneuvered in the shallow and narrow Imperial River tributary.

"We made a dent in it last time, but I know there's at least still an engine block waiting for us out there," said Dennis Braddock, a Conservancy director.

Volunteers will collect debris as far up the creek as they can navigate. The worst areas are east of Old 41.

Gordee said volunteers are encouraged by the way most waterways are maintained. They hope the same happens once they finish their work on Oak Creek.

"Other than Oak Creek, a lot of what we do now is maintenance work," Gordee said. "I think people have gotten better at leaving things the way they found them."

Bonita Springs environmentalist Cullum Hasty isn't surprised to hear that Oak Creek has been mistreated as a dumping ground.

"It's always amazing to me. People will use these smaller tributaries, particularly the ones where there's a road that crosses them and it's not very populated, to dump just about anything," he said.

The cleanup will begin early Saturday morning and continue until volunteers meet around noon to turn in their trash and take part in a post-event picnic. To register as a cleanup volunteer, call Randy Mote at 495-3222.

(Contact Staff Writer Karie Partington at 213-6065 or kjpartington@naplesnews.com )