Mike Hammond
While searching the mangroves for a missing Calusa Blueway marker post, a friend noticed what appeared to be a large section of dock deep in the tangled roots. The closed styrofoam between the wooden boards gave us the most concern. What would happen when it started to breakdown? It was far too big for us to remove. I told my friend that I would let Keep Lee County Beautiful Inc. know where it was and see if volunteers could extract it during one of the many upcoming organized cleanups. In the next little cove, the same friend spotted a large floating navigational marker. It was so far back in the mangroves that I believe it was a victim of Hurricane Irma. Prop roots were growing around it. This time I told my friend I would notify Lee County Natural Resources. A couple of days later another paddler told me where a few derelict crab traps were located, but did not know with whom to share the information. I informed them I could pass it on to our closest UF/IFAS Extension Sea Grant agent.
It finally occurred to me that with all the entities, municipalities and stakeholders along our waterways, the average paddler may not know what to do or who to call if they find large pieces of debris, and if that’s the case it could discourage paddlers from doing anything. Hopefully, this article will make it simple for paddlers and boaters to help us keep our waterways clean. First, try to get an accurate location. A screenshot of your compass or GPS app on your phone with longitude and latitude coordinates is great! If you can drop a pin and share a map, that works, too. A description is helpful, but a picture is worth a thousand words. A photo can show us how difficult it will be to retrieve the item, whether it is safe to remove, what tools may be needed and which entity to notify. If you can safely take a photo, please do that. When you have your coordinates, a description and hopefully a photo, the next step is: Where do you send the information? To keep it simple you can send it to us. You can use “Contact Us” on the Calusablueway.com page, send a message through our Facebook page, or call Lee County Parks & Recreation and ask for the Calusa Blueway coordinator.  Whatever works best for you will work for us. While we may not remove the refuse ourselves, we will know who to contact and you will not have to make multiple calls searching for the right person or agency.
For any paddlers interested in helping us clean up or report trash and conditions of trail markers, please consider becoming a volunteer. Lee County Parks & Recreation has a longtime, well-structured volunteer program. You can go to www.leeparks.org/volunteers to get started. It’s a great way to have fun while volunteering out on the Great Calusa Blueway.