The 36th annual Great Lake Allatoona Cleanup (GLAC) took place Oct. 2. The event, managed by the Lake Allatoona Association (LAA), is considered one of the largest National Public Lands Day events in the country. Despite the cancellation of the traditional post-cleanup picnic for the second consecutive year, 2,049 volunteers participated in the event.
Participants, mostly made up of Girl Scout and Boy Scout troops, received goodie bags with GLAC patches, stickers and educational materials. With lake levels nearly 5 feet below summer pool (the water level of the lake at normal operating conditions) and with favorable weather, volunteers were able to pick up 7.61 tons of trash and debris.
It was another rewarding year for the LAA and the GLAC Committee, which is made up of LAA members, local citizens, area organizations and government officials, such as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Acworth Parks, Recreation and Community Resource Department and Keep Bartow Beautiful. The GLAC committee works throughout the year to keep the cleanup one of the top family-oriented events in the area.
Going beyond the one-day event, the Lake Allatoona Association’s Lake Warriors group gathered an additional 13.6 tons of trash this year, with more than 21 tons picked up in total. Congratulations to the LAA on another successful year! The next GLAC tentatively is scheduled for Oct. 1, 2022.
– Christopher Purvis, lead ranger at Lake Allatoona over Partnerships, Volunteers and Project Security. He has been a ranger on Allatoona Lake since 2005.
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