Community rallies to remove thousands of pounds of trash from Fontana Lake - WLOS

Community rallies to remove thousands of pounds of trash from Fontana Lake | WLOS

SWAIN COUNTY, N.C. (WLOS) — Even though it's November, scores of people are at Fontana Lake removing trash that has piled up over the years.

Friday was the first of a three-day event picking up debris in Fontana Lake. By the time the weekend is over, literally tens of thousands of pounds of debris - big and small - will be picked up and removed.

“Hoping to get around 60 to 70 thousand pounds of trash this year. We're going big,” Fontana Village Marina Harbor Master Brandon Jones said.

Jones is one of the organizers of the sixth annual clean-up event.

“The last five years we've cleaned up 240,000 pounds of trash off the shoreline of this lake,” Jones said.

This year, crews and volunteers, totaling about 90 people, are based at Fontana Lake Estates near the Fontana Dam.

“When we first started this, we had 12 people,” Jones said.

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It's a big job with 239 miles of shoreline. There’s also a growing interest in clearing the lake of all sorts of trash.

“You've got everything from flip-flops, Coke bottles, golf balls, all the way up to Styrofoam chunks weighing about 5 to 6 hundred pounds a block,” Jones said.

Styrofoam was often used for floating homes, but Jones said it’s now banned and to be removed by 2031.

“All that stuff gets in these fish, and then you're eating them. So, I mean, it’s just, little pieces at a time. We got to get it out,” he said.

The National Park Service is also involved in the trash removal.

“It could end up in the national park and it could damage habitat for wildlife,” Ranger Adam Monroe said.

He said the lake is normally lower this time of year, dropped for repair work at the dam. The combination aids in the cleanup.

“We need the lakeshore exposed so we can climb up in here and get the trash without having to float on top of the water,” said Monroe, who coordinates the volunteers.

“We love the lake, and we find it sometimes -- too many bottles and trash in the lake,” Fontana Lake Estates resident and cleanup volunteer Christine Roth said.

There’s lots of work for the years ahead.

“We've probably got at least a million pounds to get out before we get to just managing this property, “Jones said.

Debris pickup will continue through Sunday. For information about volunteering call Brandon Jones at 828-498-2017 or email him at: Brandon.jones@fontanavillage.com.