Hooked on the Lake!

Cleaning up the shores at Bonelli Park!

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Trash is something that is seemingly unavoidable. But, that doesn’t mean that it should be left wherever you go. Today I’m going to share about our adventure of cleaning up the shores of our local lake!

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Frank G. Bonelli Regional Park, which surrounds Puddingstone Lake, is located in San Dimas, CA. It is one of our favorite places to hang out, especially now that the cooler weather is here.

Earlier in the week, my husband and I drove in with a mission that was greater than just admiring the scenery of the Foothills that run north of the lake.

This mission was to walk along the shores of the lake and pick up as much trash and fisherman-litter as we could. We only covered a short distance, but we will definitely be back soon to walk the lake full circle.

We ended up filling a Starbucks bag (which we pulled out of a trashcan) to the brim with old fishing lures, fishing line, plastic cups & lids, batteries, glass, and so much more.

I documented our 3 hour clean-up process, and the pictures are shown in this post. This is only a handful of the 100+ pictures that I took; Even then, I didn’t take a picture of every single thing we found.

Hopefully this will put it into perspective for you!

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

As you scroll through this post, keep in mind that these pictures were taken as the items were found. (Shout out to Kyle for helping me out… I really wanted to show the detail of these hazardous leftovers!)

Single use plastics SUCK (literally!)

Decomposition Time for Plastics: Bags= 20 years Bottles= 450 years Straws= 200 years.

Straws do more damage than you’d probably think. They don’t break down, nor do plastic silverware.

“It’s just one straw” -said 8 billion people.

Single use straws and silverware are some of the most annoying causes of major pollution. They get used for an average of 20 minutes, and then they are thrown away- it’ll be another 200 years before they begin to decompose. They’ll be around on this Earth longer than we will.

100,000 marine creatures [per] year die from plastic entanglement and these are the ones [that are] found. Approximately 1 billion sea birds also die from plastic. A plastic bag can kill numerous animals because they take so long to disintegrate.

Ocean Crusaders: ocean crusaders.org/plastic-crusades/plastic-statistics/

Biodegradable plastics are designed to break down in a compost pile or landfill where there are high temperatures and suitable microbes to assist degradation. However, there are generally not designed to degrade in the ocean at appreciable rates.

Marine Debris Program, https://marinedebris.noaa.gov/do-plastics-go-away-when-theyre-ocean-or-great-lakes

Below: Plastic bags. Some of these are hard for you to see, aren’t they? Just think about what a fish or a sea turtle sees when they’re looking for food. They can’t tell the difference, and the damage that comes from that is a very sad reality.

Notice how the lid in the top left of this next picture says ‘Compostable Lid’. Litter degradability depends on a large range of factors, including climate and other conditions. In all reality, there’s a good chance that this lid would never have had the chance to compost on the shore of the lake.

Batteries and Cigarettes.

Decomposition time: Cigarette Butts= up to 12 years Batteries= 100 years

Battery leakage (commonly known as battery acid) is nasty, corrosive stuff – it can burn your skin, contaminate soil, and of course ruin whatever device it has leaked into.

Energizer Battery Company

Batteries and cigarettes toxic and dangerous. Imagine a Goose picking one up as it grazes through the grass. It could ingest the toxins, which can have harmful after effects.

Fires are obviously a hot topic (no pun intended) here in California. All it takes is one spark from a lit cigarette butt to start a wildfire.

Animals, plants, and humans could lose their lives because of it.

So please, if you feel the need to smoke at the lake, do your part to make sure that your cigarette butt is completely extinguished and that it ends up in the trash.

Glass

Decomposition time: 1-2 million years

Let me ask you a question: Would you walk barefoot along the shores if you saw glass exposed like this?

My guess is that you would quickly say no. I don’t blame you!

The reason I asked that is because I can’t help but think of the waterfowl that live around the lake, and how one unlucky step onto a sharp piece of glass could slice their webbed feet and badly injure them.

As I learn about wildlife injuries in one of my classes this semester, I am exposed to so many of the preventable injuries that animals sustain due to human carelessness. It is not a pleasant feeling to know that things like this happen to animals on a daily basis.

All it takes to make a difference is a few steps over to a trashcan! (It’s really that easy!)

Metal, miscellaneous items, and bottle caps.

Decomposition time: Tin can= 50 years Aluminum can= 80-200 years

I understand that things can fall out of your pocket or handbag by accident, but let’s be real here – it’s not that common. I am hinting at the fact that there are pliers and a VERY old pair of sunglasses in the pictures below. Both items have clearly been around for quite some time due to the amount of rust and corrosion on them.

I’d also like to point out the fact that there is a vape “something-or-other” in the bottom right of the picture above. (I say “something-or-other” because I have little to no knowledge about vaping and all that entails, but I came to the conclusion that this goes along the lines of the vaping family.)

One of the most interesting things we found was this Lolli-pop. Notice how there’s nothing inside of the wrapper, which is still perfectly intact? It had been there for a while, and I’m assuming some ants (or some adventurous birds) had quite the sugar rush at one time!

Fishing line, lures, and hooks.

Decomposition time: Fishing line= 600 years Hooks= 600 years Lures (made from PVC plastic)= Never

These are quite possibly the most dangerous items we came across. These three items are hazardous on their own, but when you put them together as they are usually found, its bad news for wildlife.

Honestly, this made up the bulk of our findings. Quite a few of the lures were found in the water, and Kyle was more than happy to wade in to get them out. Their designs blend in with the foods that the fish and (some of) the waterfowl would normally eat.

Isn’t that the point? Yes, it is. But it’s what happens after the fishing is over that is cause for concern. (I’ll tell you why in just a minute!)

Damage/ Injury to Wildlife

Waterfowl, especially geese, graze through the grass as their main food source. They don’t have the option to pick unwanted things out of their food like us humans do. That’s where the hooks and fishing line come into play in regards to wildlife damage & injury.

This sweet little goose (pictured below) followed Kyle and I around for a few minutes while we walked from the grass towards the shore.

As I turned around to take this picture, I saw something shiny coming from his bill, and I quickly put down the camera to go help him. As he was sifting through the grass, he picked up some unwanted fishing line and it got stuck around his bill.

Fortunately, I was able to grab the lose ends near his feet and it slid out of his mouth without a problem.

Sadly, not all animals are so lucky. The line can get wrapped around feet, wings, and beaks, which all have their own damaging possibilities.

If there are hooks tied to the line, they can puncture the beak area. With a barbed hook, they have to be cut out by a vet specialist. Sometimes hooks are swallowed, which can puncture or tear the esophagus.

The bird continues to swallow the rest of the line as it eats, which forms into a giant ball of nylon. The more food that mixes with the ingested line will cause a blockage in which it won’t be long before the bird starves to death.

My hope is that fishermen and lake-goers alike will take responsibility for their waste. The animals who call Bonelli their home don’t deserve to be effected by human visitors who leave behind a negative footprint.

If you respect wildlife, you are doing a great thing!

Hiding in Plain Sight…

Lastly, I want to point something out to you. I have a few trashcans pictured below, and I want you to know that this is roughly about 10% of the trashcans that are on the picnic areas of the shore we walked along. That’s TWELVE trashcans within about 50 feet of each other.

This means that there is absolutely no excuse for the amount of trash and harmful waste that gets left along the shores.

Do your part (hint hint – don’t be lazy!) and leave a positive footprint on Earth by throwing away your trash! It all adds up, so YES – you DO matter, and so does your trash. 🙂

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

I hope that this post encourages you to be more conscious of local wildlife in more ways than you may have before.

Have you ever been to Bonelli Regional Park? If so, would you be interested in a lake clean-up day sometime in the near future?

Leave a comment below if this is something you’d be interested in!

• Baby Birds: A Helpful Rescue Guide!
• Backyard foraging- 3 wild plants that grow in our yard!
• Our Low-Waste Diaper Bag
• Hummingbird Nectar- A Helpful Measurement Guide.
• Painting and Wildlife – A Few of My Favorite Things.