Pitch in! Kenduskeag cleanup set for Sunday

Bruce Buckley likes to fish for bass. He also likes the fact that being the member of a bass club provides him a platform that he can use to organize a number of community service projects.

Several weeks ago, Buckley and I spoke about one such event that he was particularly proud of.

When you hear what he’s doing, I suspect you might be proud, too. Even better, you might decide to join him and help spruce up one of Bangor’s natural gems.

On Sunday, April 15, Buckley — the president of River City BassMasters — will lead a group of club members in a cleanup effort on the banks of Kenduskeag Stream.

The timing of the third annual event isn’t coincidental: The following Saturday, hundreds of paddlers and thousands of spectators will line that same stream for the popular Kenduskeag Stream Canoe Race.

Back in February, Buckley told me an interesting tale about last year’s stream cleanup.

“A couple of young kids were out riding their bikes and they stopped when they saw us,” Buckley told me. “After awhile, they said, ‘Can anybody do this?'”

Not one to turn down an offer of free labor, Buckley handed the kids gloves and trash bags, and the youths pitched in for the rest of the afternoon.

Now, it’s your turn to emulate those kids.

Buckley, the rest of the River City BassMasters, and their youth affiliate, the Glenburn Junior BassMasters, will meet at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Intown Plaza. Trash bags and glove will be provided, and crews will head upstream, picking trash as they go.

Buckley said that last year about a dozen people pitched in, and more than 25 bags of trash were collected.

On Thursday, Maine Game Warden Jim Fahey said Buckley’s track record of service is impressive.

“I first met him when he came to the Bangor office one day, looking for a way to do an outreach on behalf of the bass fishermen,” Fahey said. “We thought at the time that it might work out for him and [his club at the time, the Bangor Bass Club], to work with the Greater Pushaw Lake Association.”

That project: Helping to install navigational buoys on Pushaw Lake.

“They took their knowledge of the shoals and sand bars and rock piles, the lake association bought the buoys at a reduced rate from the Department of Conservation, and the bass club helped with placement,” Fahey said. ” A couple years went by and then Bruce came up with this stream cleanup.”

 

 

 

John Holyoke

About John Holyoke

John Holyoke has been enjoying himself in Maine's great outdoors since he was a kid. Today, he's the Outdoors editor for the BDN, a job that allows him to meet up with Maine outdoors enthusiasts in their natural habitat. The stories he gathers provide fodder for his columns, and this blog.