Power of Seven

Chad Cook pulling out one of the 55 tires removed.

On April 16^th a small group of duck hunters got together on a windy and rainy day to clean up one of their local State Game Areas. How all this came about was because of a wildfire that took place out at Pointe Mouillee near Gibralter Michigan. The fire burned nearly 600 acres, and it uncovered large amounts of glass, tires and other illegal dumped trash. A few pictures where snapped and posted on the Michigan Sportsman web community. A conversation began to get a group out there and help clean up the dangers that were uncovered.

I took on the task of getting the permission needed from the DNR and the State of Michigan to have volunteers come out and do the clean up. A vote was put up to select date the clean up would take place and it ended up coming down to a coin flip. The whole clean up was planned in only two weeks.

The group was split up into two work groups and started working at 9am. Zack Cooley who works at the Pointe Mouillee office for the DNR was on hand to lend a hand and haul the trash to a central location so that it could be picked up and properly disposed of. The small group of 7 volunteers removed over 4 tons of trash which included 55 tires, 2 TVs, containers of motor oil, and 100’s of glass bottles.

“We are lucky to have this quality SGA and the guys who do the work there. It was definitively an overwhelming amount of work that needed to be done”. – Mike Cook Trenton, Mi

Top left to right: Keith Jayska Carleton,Mi ; Mike and Chad Cook of Trenton, Mi Bottom: Justin Clark Monroe, Mi ; Joe Tedder Dundee, Mi Not pictured: Paul Wise Ann Arbor, Mi ; Phil Bernardi, Mason, Mi

A big thanks goes out to the guys that came out and helped clean up one of Michigan’s premier SGA. These guys only had two things in common, a web community and strong sense of stewardship for the outdoors. Talks have already started on planning another cleanup for this year. There is still a lot of clean up and small jobs that could be done by volunteers.