Annual beach cleanup taking place tomorrow

St. Tammany News

Several beaches and other areas around St. Tammany Parish will receive some sprucing up on Saturday during the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Beach Sweep 2007.

After canceling the event in 2004 and 2005 due to hurricanes Ivan and Katrina, the annual cleanup roared back to life last year with a record-breaking number of volunteers. This year over 1,600 volunteers have registered to work around the lakefront and roadways throughout the area.

"We've had a wonderful response," said JoAnn Burke, coordinator for Beach Sweep 2007. "So many people volunteered we had to close registration."

Dozens of scout troops, corporate teams and other civic groups will be working from 9 a.m. to noon on Saturday.

In Slidell, Troop 243 and Troop 1410 will be tidying up Robert Road from Gause Boulevard to Brownswitch Road, and Lacombe will receive the attentions of the employees of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and Big Branch National Wildlife Refuge. Cleanup efforts in Madisonville will be hosted by the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation, beginning at the boat launch.

The Mandeville lakefront will receive the attention of the Keep Mandeville Beautiful team. According to Susan Russell, over 400 volunteers have signed up for the event.

"We'll be meeting at the gazebo to hand out vests, gloves, trash bags and all the necessary tools," said Russell. "I'm happy to say we'll also be fanning out through the streets of Old Mandeville as well."

The LPBF is still encouraging individuals who have not registered but want to participate to work in their neighborhoods by cleaning gutters and storm drains. Several picnics will be held for participants following the organized sweep events, and debris that is picked up will be recorded on data cards to quantify the amount of trash that is collected.

For more information call 836-2238 or send an e-mail to joann@saveourlake.org.