Business Idea!

[GlassEyeangler]

My daughter and I were at our local lake this weekend hiding Easter eggs at the park. We noticed a lot of garbage both on the shorline and in the water. Plastic bottles, beer cans, cigarette butts...we even noticed a stop sign pole in the water 5 feet from shore. It was very irritating to say the least, and we picked up what we could.

My dughter came up with a great idea of starting a clean up business for lakes. You can imagine how I felt when she said this...and being only 8 years old - very proud! She has a great idea; however, I told her that the DNR and the City have people to do this. Then she said........when? I couldn't answer that, and it made me laugh!

So here it is, has anyone ever thought of starting a clean up business for lakes, and how far have you gone with the idea...I mean, would the City/DNR pay for something like this?

I promised my daughter answer, and thought of bringing it up to you for feedback.

[perchking]

I think it would be a GREAT idea, I personally have NEVER seen the DNR picking up garbage, I have seen them standing over it shaking their head and taking notes but never pick it up.

[Anylakeanytime]

I am not sure the DNR would pay for it, but one possible solution could be to do what the highway department does. Adopt a highway program (only it would be adopt a lake). Have groups do it and have a sign posted at each lake (at the public access) what group is donating their time to pick up the garbage (you know... like those blue signs on the side of the road). I know I would have NO PROBLEM if a group would like to walk through my property picking up the trash from my beach. Although I am sure there are a few out there that would have a problem with it

[harvey lee]

Another option that Fishing Minnesota tries to promote is a lake clean up day. How it works is a member or staff can have a clean up day on any lake they choose. You pick the time and date and it can be done very easy. I have set up these and try to combine it with a day of fishing. Pretty much a get together and fishing day event. One can fish, then meet at noon and spend a little time cleaning and have lunch and either go home or have more fishing time.

They can be done many ways and will help the lake and you end up having a great day and also meet many new FMers.

If you would like try try one you can either notify the moderator of that forum and he will help and answer questions or you may call or e-mail myself and I will help you in any way I can.

[lookincalifornia]

i worked a summer for a county conservation board in iowa, and we would do a quick clean up weekly when we mowed. i would imagine that once summer help has been hired, more clean up will take place. it's alot easier to tell some 19 year old college student or 16 year old doing community service to clean up the trash than to have a 20 year dnr officer take the time to bend at the waist to pick up an empty lindy rig package or broken red and white plastic bobber.

i think a private company would be a very good idea, if you could get a city or the state to pay them. what a great idea, from the mouths of babes.

[sparcebag]

Harvey I posted to Rick,In forum outdoors clean up.Long time ago1 I just deleted it this morning,also had it in Willmar-Spicer no replies deleted it also! I thought Rick would see his own post and reply to answer my questions! I did it in good faith but I lost all faith!

[Failin'onPhalen]

You are going to need a cheap labor force to keep cost down, because the DNR has other priorities to manage...perhaps the Sentence To Serve folks from each county...I know they do highway clean ups with these crews and I have recently seen private contractors using STS crews to do hard labor-type work.

Good luck and let the little one know 'we' think her idea is great!

[GlassEyeangler]

I'm responding to all of the comments so far...and thanks for the feedback.

Yeah, I really believe there's a need for something like this. It's been in my head the last couple of days.

Here's how far I got with it. We would pick a community - Lakeville, Coon Rapids, Prior Lake, etc. and become that community's 'lake clean up crew'. In short, clean all of the lakes in that community. Our thought would be to start right after the ice disappears all the way through the opener. This way everyone who uses it can feel good about a clean lake to fish in. We would put a flyer on all of the lakefront property a week prior to cleaning. There would be a phone number for those homeowners to call if they didn't want us in their back yard. The crews would certainly walk all of the approved properties and pick up trash along the shorline. I already have a crew in mind I wouldn't have to pay a bunch of $$ to. Then we'd lauch a boat, and clean up anything and everything we could see in shallow water. Now, here's another detail...knowing that fish spawn in the spring time, we could ask the DNR to check something before moving it (ex, the stop sign post i mentioned above), if the DNR approved us to move it - it's gone. If not, we'd pick up in the summer time. At the end of the effort the DNR could post a certificate on the boat access stating the lake has been cleaned by.....name of the company.

This certianly makes a lot of people happy, especially the homeowners, but think about the environmental effect? I also think about how much $$ our state puts into taking a kid fishing....beleive me, kids today won't do anything if it's 'dirty'!

There's my food for thought!

[harvey lee]

Sparcebag

Rick may have not seen your post, I dont know. Many times I have seen where a question was posted and not replied to. When someone just sets one up in conjection with a day of fishing many members will attend and help. If you are still interested in doing one and would like some help with direction, I would be more than happy to give you the needed information to get this going.

[Questor]

Overall, it seems worthwhile. Maybe you can get it to happen for you at the municipal level if the price is right.

One thought: it would be great to be able to get rid of the geese that plague so many parks today. I understand that just shooting a couple will drive the flocks away more or less permanently. Litter today in parks is inconsequential compared to the septic filth of the Canada geese.

[spotter]

how about a scuba crew, then you can clean the bottom of the lake of god only knows what. That would be a interesting job, never know what you might find that day.

[LanceJ]

Now you're talkin! I've hooked up with bicycles, cookware/dishes, clothing...and God knows what else, I forget.

[Blake]

Quote:

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how about a scuba crew, then you can clean the bottom of the lake of god only knows what. That would be a interesting job, never know what you might find that day.

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I'm sure a few cell phones would be found down there as well