Camden County, Jessica Warren is the County Coordinator and ANR Agent, is a popular destination for various types of outdoor recreation and eco-tourism. Residents and tourists heavily utilize our local waterways for boating, fishing, and other water related activities. Due to heavy use, there is often litter and debris left behind from these recreational activities. It is important to keep these areas clean for the health of the local ecosystem, fishing industry, community, and tourism industry.
Beginning in 2014, Camden County Extension has organized and hosted two Rivers Alive cleanup events per year. Camden County Extension partners with Crooked River State Park to host a cleanup on and within the shores of the park. The cleanup is held as a part of Your State Parks Day, a park community service day on which parking fees are waived for volunteers. Camden County Extension hosts a separate cleanup in downtown Woodbine targeting high need areas. Events are advertised on the Extension office’s website and Facebook page, on the Extension public events calendar, in the newspaper, through flyers, and through other community organizations. Trash bags, t-shirts, and work gloves are provided by the Rivers Alive program. Prizes are donated by various organizations and awarded to the individual that collects the largest amount of trash, the individual who collects the largest trash item, and the individual who collects the most unique trash item.
In 2014 76 volunteers collected 1050 lbs of litter from the shorelines of Camden County, and in 2015 80 volunteers collected 927 lbs of litter. Pipes, fishing line, a camping chair, tires, a truck toolbox, an artificial flower, plastic bottles, an anchor, crab floats, and a boat holding tank were among the debris collected from the shoreline. This not only improves the aesthetics and safety of our local natural areas, but also the health of our local estuaries and marine ecosystem. The Rivers Alive program, a program of The Georgia Environmental Protection Division, selected Camden County Extension as the winner of the 2014 Coastal Cleanup Award.