Major League Fishing, Alabama Power team up for Logan Martin Lake cleanup, fish habitat improvements
Alabama anglers and fishing enthusiasts who enjoy Logan Martin Lake might notice the lakeshore is a bit cleaner over the coming weeks.
While anglers competed on Lay Lake at Major League Fishing’s (MLF) recent Bass Pro Shops Redcrest 2024 Powered by Optima Lithium, the MLF Fisheries Management Division and other MLF staff, Bass Pro Tour anglers Gary Klein and Grae Buck and Alabama Power staff kicked off the Renew Our Rivers Logan Martin weeklong cleanup.
Alabama Power Environmental Affairs Specialist Mike Clelland captained a cleanup barge to secluded areas of Logan Martin with angler volunteers while the MLF staff led the cleanup on the shoreline of Pell City Lakeside Park.
“It’s outstanding to see the effort this community puts into keeping their lake beautiful, and I’m humbled to be a small part of this kickoff event,” Buck said.
The cleanup teams offloaded the trash at bins that were provided for the weeklong event. The cleanup concluded on March 23.
After the Redcrest event wrapped up, the partners went back to work building and deploying artificial fish habitat into Logan Martin from Lakeside Park at the Minn Kota Habitat Restoration Project supported by the KVD Foundation and MossBack Fish Habitat.
The MLF Fisheries Management Division traditionally provides the Redcrest host community with a habitat restoration project following its most prestigious event. The project started with a donation of $5,000 from the KVD Foundation, which was matched by MossBack Fish Habitat. The two groups combined to provide Alabama Power with $10,000 in artificial habitat products. Before the habitat hit the water, it was on display for the weekend at the MLF Outdoors Sports Expo.
The habitat was weighed down using anchoring materials supplied by the Lowe’s store in Leeds. The products were deployed using two habitat barges owned and operated by Alabama Power.
Kevin VanDam said, “We are extremely proud to provide our third consecutive year of support with the KVD Foundation at Redcrest and showcase Minn Kota’s continual commitment to the bass fishing community and habitat restoration.”
Celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, Renew Our Rivers has evolved into one of the nation’s largest river cleanup campaigns. Since its inception, 16 million pounds of trash have been collected by more than 120,000 volunteers.
To learn more about Renew Our Rivers, visit APCShorelines.com or download the Alabama Power Shorelines app. To view the schedule for upcoming Renew our Rivers cleanups, click here.