Lee County Code Enforcement honored by state environmental officials

LEESBURG — It appears area residents, kayakers, canoers and boaters are not the only ones impressed by the hard work that’s gone into keeping up the pristine conditions of Lee County’s Kinchafoonee and Muckalee creeks. Lee County Code Enforcement will soon be honored by the state of Georgia for the county’s success with the Rivers Alive program.

Code Enforcement chief Jim Wright was notified via an email from Meredith Whitten, with the Rivers Alive Watershed Outreach Unit, which operates under the auspices of the Environmental Protection Division’s Watershed Protection Branch, that the statewide Rivers Alive program to cleanup of Georgia’s waterways, had selected the Lee Code Enforcement office as the recipient of the organization’s 2016 Government Partner Award.

“It’s a great honor,” Wright said of the award. “This year will be our 10th Rivers Alive event and it keeps growing every year. We started with maybe 25 people and last year was a record for us. We had over 200. We’ve had a lot of support from the community. And we’re definitely seeing a decrease in litter.

“We have been very active on the water, trying to keep our creeks clean and trying to put out some educational material letting folks know not to leave their beer cans and trash along the Kinchafoonee and Muckalee, and to report it if you find it. We want to get it out of there.”

Wright said at last year’s Rivers Alive event volunteers logged 1,600 hours and pulled 2,040 pounds of litter off the banks of the two creeks. Since the annual event was started in 2007, volunteers have pulled a whopping 66,460 pounds of debris out of the county’s waterways.

For Wright, that level of success can be attributed to the support he’s gotten not only from the community, but from local leaders who have encouraged the cleanups.

“It’s been successful because of the leadership and support we get from the Board of Commissioners, who give us permission to do this type of work,” he said. “Also we get a lot of support from volunteers. It’s the community’s attitude toward River Alive that makes it possible and makes it successful.

“We’re very grateful for the support this community gives us. There’s a lot of people working hard to take care of our waterways.”

Although cleanup of the county’s creeks has been a priority for a decade now, Wright said he thinks the hard work of volunteers to remove several tons of debris from the two waterways is starting to get noticed as traffic, especially on the Kinchafoonee, has increased in recent years.

“The creeks have also become more popular,” said Wright. “You can look at the increased numbers that come down and canoe and kayak on the Kinchafoonee. I was talking to one person that lives on the creek and he said he counted 60 different kayaks one Saturday. That’s a big turnout for such a small waterway.

“People post about the creek on Facebook and that has attracted others, too. It’s beautiful down there. Even for a small creek, there’s interesting things there like a waterfall that flows into the creek. There’s natural springs and there’s a cave. … It’s just very beautiful down there. We’re definitely seeing an increase in people.”

Wright is hoping to see an even greater increase, not just in recreational traffic but also continued growth in the number of volunteers turning out for Rivers Alive, the next of which will take place the second week of July.

“It will be our 10th year and we’ll be doing the cookout at Chehaw again afterward,” said Wright. “We’ve been able to partner with Chehaw and the Flint RiverQuarium and different folks and that has really helped us.”

Wright said in addition to the free meal, and free t-shirt for the volunteers that register early, there will also be live music and fellowship.

Before the next event, however, Wright, fellow Code Enforcement officer Ben Roberts, and Lee County Chamber of Commerce Director of Operations Lesley Barbosa, who also helps with Rivers Alive, will be attending the state awards ceremony in Atlanta to accept the award.

“We are going,” he said. “If you get invited by the state to an award you go. There’s no way I’m letting those folks down.”

While those three will be heading to Atlanta for the honor, the award is really for all of Lee County.

“It’s really a team effort,” said Wright. “We get help from Public Works, the Leesburg Police Department, the sheriff’s office .. it’s a community effort. I really appreciate all the support we get from the community. This recognition really needs to go to everybody. It’s the community that gets it done.”

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