Hickory Top WMA Clean-up 12-April-2026

.     On April 12th I set out to work on the first of many clean-ups at Hickory Top Wildlife Management Area. Years ago I found that all along the lakeshore there is trash that has been accumulating for decades. The lake edge at Hickory Top is no different. For the first couple clean-ups, I decided it would mostly be about scouting the area and trying to formulate some sort of plan to work on tackling the whole thing. I found that this is going to be a long, possibly never ending project, but with repetition I will be able to make change.

     Plastics, styrofoams, glass, aluminum, rubber tires, none of these things belong along the lake shore. Plastics and tires are the most harmful. These items break down slowly, plastics break down into smaller plastics, which then get into the water column as microscopic bits that can find their way into wildlife and potentially us. We are just now understanding how plastics accumulate in the human body and I don't think it is fully understood how it will effect us in the long run. Tires over time can leach harmful substances that they are composed of. These substances can have a potential negative impact on some fish species. So I am setting out to do these clean-ups, not only for the wildlife, but all of you that use the lake, catch and eat the fish. 

1st piece picked up

         Starting at the Palmetto Trail I walked down until I could see the lake and cut over to the lake edge. The first item I found and picked up would have been discarded 30-40 years ago. I wonder what a kid today would think of the round bottom bottles of the 80's and early 90's. There are many of them washed up along the lake, almost every one has lost the plastic cap that made the bottom flat. 

      This photo is a bit dark, but if you look closely you can see what I am working on. The trash stretches from the waters edge to about 30 feet on land for this particular spot. 

     Some spots have a little more trash than others. For this clean-up I had cheap bags so I did not remove any glass. Glass adds a lot of weight and although shouldn't be there, has the least environmental impact. I do intend to go back to this specific area to remove the glass as well.

     It is hard to fathom just how much trash is around Lake Marion. If you have a favorite spot along the lake and you see trash while you are there, grab and dispose of one or two pieces. Every bit helps and we can all work on this together. 

      It didn't take very long to fill the first bag. I propped it against this tree, put a loose tie on the top and started on the second bag. 

       Spotted the remnants of an old lawn chair at the start of the second bag. The metal all deteriorated away. It pulled fairly easy out of the mud. 

      Every place a piece of trash sits is a place that a plant can't grow. Now things can fill in where this was. 

      Lures can be a common find. This was just a piece of a Jitterbug. Who knows what kinds of lures I will find in subsequent clean-ups. 

      Most of the trash were common finds. This was the only real oddity to me. It looks like it attaches to something else. I just have no idea what. 

        Bag two filling up and I didn't cover much ground at all. 

      I have been doing these kinds of clean-ups for a long time. They give you a lot of time to think. Too often I think about the individual items, how they got there. Was this used to serve lemonade on a pontoon boat and somehow found its way overboard? There will never be an answer, but thinking about stuff like that passes the time while picking up.

     You can actually tell if a flip flop spent a lot of time out on open water. I don't think this one did. In one of the next posts I will show you a flip flop that has. Large fish do attack them and to the point pieces are ripped off and teeth marks are left behind. I have always wanted to try to use one as a lure, just to see what they could catch.

      With the second bag filled, I had to walk back and get the other one. The walk out on the Palmetto Trail was pretty short. 

       First two bags removed and after this photo was taken loaded into the car. From this point I thought about just taking them to the dump, but in order to really see what was removed, I took them home and did this...

Bag #1

Bag #1 Small Items

Bag #2

Bag #2 Small Items

      I took this extra step, just so you have an idea what is removed when I take out a bag or two. I have decided I will do this for every clean-up and have started a tally sheet so I can know just how many plastic bottles, cans, etc I remove. This is the very start and at the time I am writing this I have already done two more clean-ups. It will take some time to get those posted. 

      I will end this post with something for you to think about. It was part of the mission statement for a conservation school I helped with for many years. Every day someone puts something in our air, water and soil that does not belong. You can move something from point A to point B, but someone else has to deal with it. Are you part of the problem or the solution?