LIBERTY, Maine — The Belfast Area High School Bass Cats got their feet wet working on their first conservation project in late summer at Lake St. George.
The first-year B.A.S.S. Nation high school club spent two hours on the morning of Aug. 23 cleaning up the shoreline at the local boat ramp and then got in the water to remove more debris.
Club members involved in the cleanup were brothers Parker and Jake LaFrance, Luke Chadwick and advisor John Boynton. Other helpers included Richard LaFrance (father of the LaFrance brothers), Mike Welch and two SCUBA divers, Evan and Adam Welch.
The cleanup crew collected a couple of tires and two trash bags full of miscellaneous items.
Boynton noted his club members enjoyed the cleanup project — especially when they got in the lake.
“At first I thought we were just going to be dragging them around,” Boynton said. “But after we cleaned up around the boat ramp and the kids got into the water, it was almost like a treasure hunt. It was pretty enlightening to them what they could find under the water. Somebody even found a wad of five $1 bills floating near the bottom.”
The club plans on making the cleanup project an annual event.
“Hopefully we will add something to it every year,” Boynton said.