Volunteers Make the Difference

The year 2019 brought a 20-percent increase in visitation to Lake James State Park. With all that love, though, comes a need for help in maintaining the park’s amenities. Fortunately, we have a marvelous pool of volunteers that provides that help in abundance!

Overall volunteer hours rose 17.6% from 2018, and this covered a variety of categories, from individuals to large nonprofit organizations, and included a variety of activities; from campground hosting to trash pick-ups.

By far, the annual Lake James Cleanup on March 23 clocked in the highest number of volunteers with 276 hours recorded for day. Nearly half of the volunteers were students from Freedom High School in Morganton, and together they hauled in 4.5 tons of trash, including 30 discarded tires.

We also praise the efforts of the Northwest North Carolina Mountain Bike Alliance, which sponsored two trail workdays on the Tindo and Wimba loops. These volunteers cleaned out drainage dips, installed technical features and performed yearly maintenance; keeping our trails some of the best maintained in the state. Special thanks go to Richard Judy, Scott Duncan, Jack Brown, Eric Loomis, Tom Coffey, and Paul Stahlschmidt who led the effort this year. [Photos by Scott Duncan]

We look forward to working with our volunteers in 2020. More bike trail clean ups will be held, and the Lake James Cleanup is scheduled for March 21. If you are interested in helping out at the park in these or any another capacity, contact Ranger Wade Engels at 828-584-7728 for more information.