Lake Wylie Riversweep turnout ‘worst ever’

The annual Riversweep cleanup effort on Lake Wylie saw the lowest number of volunteers in its 14-year history, organizers said.

“This is the worst turnout we’ve ever had,” said CD Collins, Lake Wylie Covekeeper and one of the original event organizers, during the May 21 event.

The Lake Wylie Marine Commission and Catawba Riverkeeper Foundation moved the annual one-day fall event to the spring when the 2015 event had to be canceled because of low water levels due to drought. Organizers had hoped the weekend before Memorial Day would also bring more boat captains. This year there were 239 volunteers compared to more than 1,000 in 2014 and years past.

“It’s frustrating everyone loves the lake, but where are they?” said marine commission chair Lynn Smith standing at the Buster Boyd Access Area docks on Saturday. “It’s your lake; take care of it.”

Lake Wylie Covekeeper Ellen Goff said it was a year of firsts – first spring date and first time it rained. She said the low volunteer turnout was likely due to the weather, NASCAR race weekend, area graduations and proms. She and other organizers were disappointed more volunteers didn’t show up.

“We count on them,” she said.

Annual volunteer Nancy Mead said, “We had lists and lists of pre-registrations and people did not honor their commitment to the lake.”

Brian Dulin of Lake Wylie has done it almost every year and was there Saturday, too.

“I love doing it and keeping our lake clean,” he said.

One group who did show was Super Kicks Karate Family Academy of Charlotte. Three boats arrived at the docks filled with 24 participants and loads of trash.

“We thought it sounded like a good community service project,” said Emily Harris of Charlotte.

Her daughter Sarah, 8, and Fallon Reese, 9, listed off a slew of trash items they found including bottles, a fishing rod, bottle caps, fish bones, deer bones, bird bones, a dead fish, tires, paint cans with paint in them, a spoon, and men’s underwear.

Jonathan Maggio, 5, of Waxhaw, N.C., was excited to talk about the “human-made beehive” they found.

Goff said event organizers with Lake Wylie Marine Commission and Catawba Riverkeeper Foundation will evaluate the numbers from all 14 sites and decide whether to return the event to the first Saturday of October, keep the spring date, or possibly consider another event this fall. The last Riversweep in 2014 brought in more than 14 tons of trash.

This story was originally published May 21, 2016 at 4:09 PM with the headline "Lake Wylie Riversweep turnout ‘worst ever’."