Alabama anglers and fishing enthusiasts who enjoy Logan Martin Lake might notice their lakeshore a little bit cleaner, and the fish a little healthier over the coming weeks.
Last Saturday, while the top 20 anglers competed on Lay Lake at Major League Fishing’s (MLF) Bass Pro Shops Redcrest 2024 Powered by Optima Lithium, the MLF Fisheries Management Division, MLF staff, Bass Pro Tour anglers Gary Klein and Grae Buck, and Alabama Power staff kicked off the Renew Our Rivers – Lake Logan Martin (Coosa River) weeklong clean up.
Alabama Power’s Environmental Affairs Specialist Mike Clelland captained their cleanup barge to secluded areas of the lake with angler volunteers while the MLF staff and FMD led the clean up 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 kick-off event” said Bass Pro Tour angler Grae Buck.
At the end of the morning, the cleanup teams met and offloaded the barge full of trash at the city dumpsters that were provided for the week-long event.
Then, after the Redcrest championship event wrapped up last Sunday night, the MLF FMD was rback to work on Monday morning.
The FMD, MLF staff, Klein, Alabama Power Environmental Affairs employees, and volunteers built and deployed artificial fish habitat into Lake Logan Martin from Lakeside Park in Pell City at the Minn Kota Habitat Restoration Project Supported by KVD Foundation and MossBack Fish Habitat.
A Redcrest tradition with Minn Kota, the KVD Foundation, and MossBack Fish Habitat, the MLF FMD provides the host community with a habitat restoration project following MLF’s most prestigious event. The project started with a donation of $5,000 from the KVD Foundation, which was then matched by MossBack Fish Habitat.
The two groups combined to provide Alabama Power with $10,000 in artificial habitat product. Before the habitat hit the water it was on display all weekend long at the MLF Outdoors Sports Expo for fans to see in the Minn Kota MossBack Fish Habitat Experience booth.
The habitat was weighed down using anchoring materials supplied by Lowe’s in Leeds. The products were deployed using two habitat barges owned and operated by Alabama Power.
“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,” said Kevin VanDam.
The waypoint of each habitat location will be made available by Alabama Power on their website, as well as on the Shorelines mobile app. Visit AlabamaPower.com to read more about the 25 years of conservation work completed by Alabama Power, since its start with the Coosa River cleanup in 2000.
Over the past 24 years, the program has evolved into the nation’s largest river clean-up program, now known as Renew our Rivers. Since its inception, 16 million pounds of trash have been collected by more than 120,000 volunteers.
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