Project Eagle April 29, 2006

[Dakota]

Project Eagle
What: A half-day volunteer clean-up of the Winter Haven Chain of Lakes plus free lunch at the M.L.K. Park after clean up. Silver Lake Drive

When: April 29, 2006 8:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.

Who: The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission teamed up with Keep Winter Haven Clean and Beautiful, area businesses and volunteers for the clean-up. Now we need you.

How: To volunteer or preregister call the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission at 863-648-3206. Keep Winter Haven Clean and Beautiful at 863-291-5662, Lakeland Clean and Beautiful at 863-834-3306. Keep Polk County Beautiful at 863-533-8423

Needed: If you own a boat, bring it. Also you'll need a net, pike pole or long trash stick. Gloves and trash bags will be provided.

Staging Areas and collection sites:
Lake Shipp-CR655
Lake Conine-SR544
Lake Cannon-26th Street NW
Lake Howard-Lake Howard Drive
S. Lake Howard-Nature Park
Lake Maude-Ave T


I had a brochure given to me from Janis Davis from the Keep Polk County Beautiful and I told her I would post it. The thing is they have I guess a special permit to run airboats in these chain of lakes for the day. So if you are available come on out and ride and collect trash as well as get a free lunch. Not sure of how long boats will be allowed but she is still working on that.

 

[janisddavis]

I would really like to see a ton of Airboats on the Chain for this event. It is the only day a year that airboats are allowed to run these waters. I would love to see 100+ boats out there for this event, THERE IS EVEN FREE FOOD AT 3:00pm at Old Man Franks!!!!! Hope to see you there!!!!
Janis

 

[SwampMatt]

Sounds like a lot of fun. From the streets, it's a beautiful chain.

Question: Are there any issues with bridge heights? It's easy for even a small boat to be 8 feet above the waterline.

Is the cleanup on just the chain, or on ANY of the town's lakes?

matt.

 

[janisddavis]

I believe that airboats will only be allowed in the chain of lakes, however I will check into it first thing in the morning and let you all know. Janis

 

[basketcase0302]

hey ya'll,

It's that time of the year again, the cleanup is next weekend. We were told that the Texas Catleman Company will be there to feed us :thumbright: With a "second meal" later also provided by I forget who :roll:

Once a year to be on the lakes there!

Basketcase

 

[bwright]

Would love to be there, but the national wild Turkey Federation is having a tree planting in the JW Corbett wildlife management, and the hungry land wildlife environmental that weekend.
This would've been a good weekend to enjoy the camp on Tiger Lake and go Airboating some where I've never been. It looks like we're busy bee's and this is a good thing???? Hey Matt make sure you take pictures for the FAA photo album.
Bishop

 

[Ms. Wizard]

Hey all! Just want to give a little clarification...this year the clean up is on the 28th. The KRVSA is a sponsor again this year. I believe everyone is to meet at Lake Shipp, however, I will get clarification on this. Will see you there!


dawn

 

[basketcase0302]

Well ya'll,

The Winter Haven Chain of Lakes cleanup, (Project Eagle) was a success this past Saturday. The only day of the year you can airboat on the chain is done for another year, Somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 airboats just at the Lake Shipp trash collection site! Yeah we outnumbered conventional boats in those numbers as well as in the amount of trash brought back!(We had 5 large bags full, an old rim, a porta potty, 2 pfd's, styrofoam bouys and more). Several airboats launched from the other lakes too.

Had the pleasure of riding a guest from The City of Winter Haven for the half-day to get photos. She wound up helping Ms Wizard and I clean the lakes instead
Also saw a nice 8 foot lizard on Lake Eloise...ya'll wanted to know why those water skiers at Cypress gardens never fall :shock:

Got fed by the Texas Cattle Company and came home to play with grandkids, most everybody else went to Ol' Man Franks for a second free meal. Maybe we can next year

It's for a good cause and a good way to wave at the tourists in cypress gardens once a year :lol: Hope to see ya' there next year.

Basketcase

 

[Anonymous]

Did any news orgs cover the event?

 

[basketcase0302]

Gatorstick,

The "print" copy shows a picture of some KRVSA members airboat picking up trash. Don't know why they didn't put the pic in here... http://polkonline.com/stories/042907/co ... ject.shtml

Sunday, April 29, 2007
11:01 AM on Sunday, April 29, 2007
Project EAGLE yields cleaner lakes

Volunteers admire results after taking trash from shores

By Diane Nichols
News Chief staff

WINTER HAVEN - With the sparkling water of Lake Shipp in the background, volunteers from the 12th annual Project EAGLE, finished hours of cleanup along the shore and sat back to admire the results. Cleaner lakes, for now, anyway.


Paul Crate/News Chief

Project EAGLE (Enhancing A Great Living Environment) is one of the most successful community-driven projects of its kind, drawing together people of all ages in an effort to clean up lakes in the Winter Haven area. More than 400 volunteers have participated annually to preserve the beauty of the environment. Last year, more than 4,500 pounds of trash and 651 discarded tires were retrieved from area lakes.

Seven staging areas and collection sites were established in Winter Haven and Lakeland for the cleanup. Volunteers were encouraged to bring gloves and a net or pike pole, although sponsors provided gloves and trash bags to those who did not bring any. They could also walk the perimeters of the lakes or bring their own boats, if they had one.

Locally, Project EAGLE is sponsored by the Florida Wildlife Commission, Keep Winter Haven Clean and Beautiful, Get Reel, Winter Haven The Chain of Lakes City, Lakeland Clean and Beautiful, Keep Polk County Beautiful and the Kissimmee River Valley Sportsman Association . Area business sponsors include Wilson Printing, Texas Cattle Co., who provide lunch for the volunteers, and Old Man Frank's Restaurant. These sponsors and various local clubs and businesses contribute substantial amounts of supplies, services and cash to ensure the success of the project.

Pat Gilder, executive director for Keep Winter Haven Clean and Beautiful, wore a big smile at the cleanup's finale.

"We had the best turnout today," Gilder said. "We had about 16 airboats , we had Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, people from Davenport, Bartow, Lakeland, Mulberry and Lake Wales. It's wonderful that people came out and cleaned up our lakes."


Paul Crate/News Chief
The official weigh-in of the trash collected in this year's Project EAGLE will be available in a day or so, according to George Wilson, lieutenant of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

"We had over 400 people turn out today, but we are still bringing in the bags and putting them in the dumpsters over here," Wilson said. "We had a lot of tires and some really unusual items like a shopping cart, signs and a Porta-Potty. We had a beautiful day with a lot of people, children and church groups this year. Normally we'll get two to three tons of garbage, but it may be more than that this year due to the increased number of people. We get a lot of tires. We usually get about a ton of tires out of the lake. It's so important to especially get the tires out of the lake because we pulled one out and a turtle got stuck up inside of it and died there. The garbage is killing wildlife."

Wilson was greatly encouraged to see the amount of response to this year's Project EAGLE and stated that next year should be even better.

All volunteers received a free T-shirt with the Project EAGLE logo adorning the front.

diane.nichols@newschief.com


Basketcase

 

[Anonymous]

The News Chief has been good to airboaters the last few years. Hasn't always been that way.........Lately, if they know of an event, they usually report.
On the down side, the circulation of the News Chief is around 10,000 or so in the Winter Haven area. Lakeland Ledger, Tampa Trib Polk edition or the Orlando Senital each have over 10x the coverage.

 

[Weihrauchbrad]

For those interested in the facts:
1. Yes the Newschief is a small paper. Do I hear someone volunteering to be the media procurement officer? Gator Stick...By the way we missed you being there.
2. To my knowledge this is NOT the only day airboats are allowed on these lakes. You must meet the 90 db @ 50'....I do not know of a more strict Winter Haven ordinance(Believe they went with the state ordinance)
3. There is an 11:00PM curfew on airboats in the city limits. But, you can airboat these lakes. Most of us (I grew up on these lakes) choose not to, due to the fact it just is not airboat "friendly" habitat. (Deep water, bridge heights, larger vessel traffic, no place to stop, etc.)

THANKS to everyone for coming out, it was a great day and the "airboaters" made it happen, we were the largest group on the water. It feels really good to see other people care and pitch in on yet another body of water I grew up on.......Thanks for the Kissimmee Clean-up too........LIVE FREE OR DIE

 

[SwampMatt]

That RED SLED you got Brad is one of the coolest airboats I've EVER seen. I love that SINGLE HOOP cage and about 10 other unique features of that boat.

And as all the boats left the ramp, the RED SLED was by far the most quiet boat.

Congrats on such a nice boat.

Here's a photo of most of the airboaters in a group shot before we left the ramp:

As for the news coverage - who cares if it's a small paper? It's a great article. One that should be added to several scrapbooks.

 

[Ms. Wizard]

Brad, Thanks for letting us know about the airboats on the Winter Haven Chain. Someone apparently gave basketcase and I incorrect information about them not being allowed on the chain.

It was a good day. Sorry we missed Ole man Frank's fixins. Look forward to next year.


dawn

 

[Weihrauchbrad]

Matt-Thanks for the comments on the red sled. Danny Rudisill and I have worked on that little boat for two years. We built the entire (hull, cage, cage panels, everything) at our shop when we had time. Diamondback finished welding up the cage(we tacked it) due to time, we just did not have time to get it ready for the clean up and finish welding too. The boat has taken over two years to complete. The boat is very light weight. Motor is of course from Jurnigan and is probably the most responsive engine I have ever owned. Project Eagle was the first time that boat has ever seen water.(really) I had no idea what I was in for, but everything was as expected. The way Junior & Co built the motor, the top notch mufflers, and Sensenich's 3 blade do make for a quiet boat. In fact, real quiet. I had two people make the comment that the sound produced copied a high performance outboard, like found on a Mirage tunnel hull or river racer. The boat does not sound like an airboat. Alot of time and research went in to this boat, (someday I will tell you about having to shave my head over it) alot of time and research went in to the VIPER boat. I believe that through smarter boating and sincerely working with manufacturers we can drasticially change "airboating". Will we ever get to a point where we do not have to continually fight for our right to ride? ABSOLUTELY not. Can we as airboaters try to raise the mark through our own education? Yes sir. If you think this boat or the big boat are something, wait until you see what is in production(on the water this summer). Thank you for your kind comments and your and Laura's commitment to our sport.