Sun-Sentinel, April 24, 1997

EVERGLADES SCRUB

State agency's volunteer project to scour River of Grass for trash

By SALLIE JAMES

Just east os U.S. 27 near a littered canal, an alligator lounged on a log, his head not far from a bobbing beer bottle. A foam bait container floated in the weeds just inches from his tail.

Yards away, a rusted bed frame lay amid a tangle of garbage bags and beer cans.

It's an Everglades scene the Florida Fresh Water Fish Commission wants to change this weekend with help from volunteers.

The agency is hoping boaters, anglers, hunters and bird watchers turn out on Saturday to help with Project EAGLE- Enhancing a Great Living Environment- an Everglades cleanup aimed at spiffing up parts of the 500,000-acre water conservation area in western Broward County.

"Every little place where there's access off the road, you'll find trash," said a frustrated Jerry Lord, a wildlife oficer who has patrolled the Everglades for 22 years. "Nothing amazes me anymore."

Piles of truck tires, burned-out fluorescent light fixtures, broken glass and cups are what volunteers will be looking to find.

Already, 560 people have registered with the Game and Freshwater Fish Commission, and organizers are hoping for more, said agency spokesman Lt. Jim Huffstodt.

Last year, about 2800 volunteers across the state picked up 178 tons of trash in one day, he said.

During a Wednesday tour of the target area, Lord found a discarded door from an old Dodge, a rusted washing machine, two shattered porcelain toilet bowls and a pile of 30 truck tires.

Commercial dumping is getting particularly bad.

"It's John Doe who comes to the builder and says, 'Gee, let me clean up this trash pile.' Then he says, 'Gee, I don't have to pay this $100 dumping fee. I will just find somewhere to drop it off,'" Lord said. "And here it is."

During Saturday's event, organizers will be directing volunteers to littered canals, levees, spillways, and boat docks south of the Palm Beach-Broward county line in search of trash.

An appreciation picnic will follow at Markham Park in Sunrise.

It's the first time the four-year-old event is being held in Broward County. Last year, the cleanup focused on Lake Osborne and Lake Ida area in southern Palm Beach County. Volunteers in the Panhandle, Ocala, Lake City, and Lakeland will also be taking part in the statewide project on Saturday.

Trash containers, provided by Broward County Integrated Waste Management, will be scattered at seven locations throughout the cleanup area on Saturday, Lord said.

Project EAGLE was hatched four years ago when a wildlife officer in Ocala got fed up with the dumping he saw on his river patrols. The officer organized a cleanup in central Florida, and the project snowballed, Huffstodt said.

"It made him think why can't we bring everyone together," Huffstodt said.

Lord attributes the trash buildup in the Everglades to years of carelessness, Broward's exploding population and a general apathy toward an area many people never bother to visit.

"You know what I'm going to blame it on?" Lord said. "Progress, accessibility, and urban living."