The dragonflies skimming the tea-colored water and the blackbirds in the marsh grasses looked at home along Cane Bayou and the Lake Pontchartrain shore. But canoeing through the waterways Sunday, it was hard not to notice the truck tires, wine bottles and other urban debris left scattered in the shallow water and along the shoreline by Hurricane Katrina.
MANDEVILLE, La. — The dragonflies skimming the tea-colored water and the blackbirds in the marsh grasses looked at home along Cane Bayou and the Lake Pontchartrain shore.
But canoeing through the waterways Sunday, it was hard not to notice the truck tires, wine bottles and other urban debris left scattered in the shallow water and along the shoreline by Hurricane Katrina.
"There's so much stuff out there that if people like us don't come out and pick it out, it'll be here for a long, long time," said outfitter Byron Almquist.
Sunday morning, Almquist supplied eight canoes for a team of 16 people to participate in an environmental cleanup on the north side of Lake Pontchartrain.
The debris was everywhere. Wine and beer bottles, cans, plastic foam, buckets, a 55-gallon plastic drum and a plastic trash can were pulled into the canoes. There was even more that the canoes couldn't carry.
!ADVERTISEMENT!
The crews left some items in an impromptu dump for wildlife authorities to pick up later with bigger boats.
When Hurricane Katrina ripped across the Lousiana coast with 145 mph winds on Aug. 29, it left behind matted grasses that used to stand head-high, empty tree tops that once held osprey nests and the debris from area businesses and homes.
"I got a lot of Mardi Gras cups," announced Lou Furman, an employee of a nonprofit group.
"I got you beat, a cup in a cup," answered Fran Hannan, who came with husband Jack, a computer consultant from the New Orleans suburb of Kenner.
"I got a garbage can," Furman added, holding a ragged half of a trash container.
As the crews paddled, they spotted a great egret and a blue heron. A belted kingfisher flew overhead.
For Jack Hannan, it was a break from working on storm damage.
Furman, whose job is at least on hold, said he wanted to contribute something worthwhile.
"I'm finding my community again," he said.
Source: Associated Press
