Lydgate Park needs volunteers for cleanup

WAILUA — Tommy Noyes and The Friends of Lydgate and Kamalani Park can use the help of more than 100 volunteers on Saturday from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m.

Meeting near the lifeguard tower, the group of volunteers will help clear the accumulation of vegetative debris that collected at Morgan’s Ponds from the inclement weather that plagued the island for more than a week.

“The river (Wailua River) washed everything down (to the ocean), and the wind blew everything back,” a Kaua‘i Fire Department Ocean Safety Bureau lifeguard said. “I had a visitor ask if it was alright to swim in the clear area, but you don’t know what’s in the water.”

With the strong winds forecast to lighten up by Friday evening, and two, 30-foot roll-off bins in place, Noyes said the concentration of effort will be to clear the children’s beach and work southward, hopefully filling the two containers.

“We’ll have chain saws, and I might use my truck to pull out some of the larger trees from the pond,” Noyes said.

“Last week, during our regular weekly clean up, about 40 volunteers had a good workout after trying to clear some of the debris. I told them we could wait until we have more people to help, but they just rolled up their sleeves and got to work,” said Noyes.

Noyes said he had a meeting with the county’s Department of Parks and Recreation, which said the county has plans to use heavy equipment to clear some of the accumulated debris. This would be an encore performance for the county, after it closed the park earlier for cleanup work following the disposal of a beached whale.

“But that announcement should be coming from the county,” Noyes said. “Our efforts are to help the county so the disruption of park and beach use is minimized. We’ll have snacks at 10:30 a.m.”

He said if they can’t fill the bins this week, the group will continue next Saturday. For more information, call or text Noyes at 808-639-1018.

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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 808-245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
Source: The Garden Island