Adopt -A -Road

Your neighbors making a difference.

Roadside Trash -- Making it go away

Our roads get a lot of traffic on any given day. Some of that traffic deposits trash. Some are tossed on purpose, and some come from unsecured loads. In any case our roadsides become a trashy landscape. With a growing concern for roadside trash and our injured community pride, the Echo- Lost Lake Community Group is working to fix the issue.

We have had successful cleanup of Echo Lake Road and Lost Lake Road with incredible dedicated individuals willing to walk the ditches to pick up the trash left behind by thoughtless others. A great thank you to Janet Macher, VP, for managing this project. Without her leadership it would not have happened.

Join the team...Feel the pride

If you would like to part of this stunning Adopt-A-Road team next time, now is your chance to sign up. You will have the inside track to the details and plans.

Adopt-A-Road Project Restores Community Pride

Thanks to the leadership of Janet Macher and the dedicated hard-working volunteers that cleaned up Echo Lake Rd & Lost Lake Rd, the community is buzzing with recognition, appreciation and a sense of pride. This is the first time the county roads have been cleaned up with a coordinated effort. Safety of everyone was paramount on these dangerous roads. The road worker signs and cones went up and thankfully most traffic slowed down a bit. The weather was not so kind. It was the fall cold and wet conditions that would keep most of us indoors. But our road warriors were out there bagging the discarded trash in the ditches and along the road. It was planned to be a couple of short days, but there was so much trash along the six miles of shoulder it took much longer. The pickers did not want to quit until the job was done. It was their mission; they could see the impact of their work and felt the passion of completing this for the community. It was a rewarding experience for those involved and there is room for more volunteers, just like you, the next time.

The community has responded with appreciation and recognition that a few good people have made such a difference. Some of those comments are shared below.

“The road looks great!! By the bags piled along the road, it looks like there was more lurking in the grass than you see as you drive by. A big thank you to my neighbors for your tenacity. I love living in Echo Lake.” Daralee Newkirk

“I would love to be notified when you need help picking up road trash on your next round. I saw the cleaning crew and actually had no idea it was local volunteers. Love it and thank you! “ A.J. Roberts

“We want to thank the neighbors who are cleaning and picking trash on Echo and Lost Lake Roads. Lots of work but it looks great. THANK YOU VERY MUCH APPRECIATED!” Dean & Marilyn

“Thank you for cleaning up our streets. You guys rocked it today.” Susy Scott

“Thank you very much. It looks so much better!” Cathy Leddy

“Thank you very much to this group of neighbor volunteers for making a difference! I can't help but state the obvious here. Since the majority of traffic in this area are residents of the community, it would be helpful if people stopped littering in their own neighborhood, or anywhere for that matter.” Wendy M.

“Thank you so much! They are awesome working out there in this icky cold weather.” Christina Garkusha

“You guys ROCK!! I saw a lot of garbage bags on the road. WOW!!” Connie Hans Young

“Thank you all sooo much!” Lisa Ward

“You are all stars, thank you!! “ Elizabeth Stephenson

“Wow! Thank you all! Much appreciated.” Michelle Maki

“Thank you! It truly makes a huge difference.” Cathy Leddy

“What an awesome contribution to the beauty of our community! Thank you!” Ann Beaulieu

“Thank You!! Looks great!!” Dan Meyer

“Thanks to all of the volunteers that helped out over the last two weeks. Amazing how much garbage was collected.” Shelley Kelly

"It was shocking to see how much was tangled in the cut grass. We love Echo Lake, so thankful for an amazing community. Thanks to Janet for organizing another successful road cleanup!!" Megan Andrews

"Fantastic work - thanks to all who participated!!! Michelle and I both want to come and help again in future - this weekend just didn't work. Thanks again, Janet, for all your amazing organizing! " Kirsten Morton

"Thank you for all the coordination, time and communication to the Echo Lake Community about cleaning up the roads in our community. Each volunteer road clean up opportunity I met new people in our community that I probably would have not met otherwise. Also thank you to the community for waving, slowing down to say thank you, and the other volunteers that participated each time in 2022. Thanks to all of the volunteers that helped out over the last two weeks. Amazing how much garbage was collected. Thanks." Shannon Vogler

"Fireball, fireball and more fireball. That was the most popular item we found on Saturday. Lots of canned drinks, primarily beer and hard seltzer. A few fast food cups, styrofoam and plastic wrap like you’d have on pallets. It’s awesome getting to meet neighbors and super rewarding to see the results of the work. Thanks again for organizing and making our community an amazing place to live." Megan Andrews

"My volunteer insights: From the state of some of the items found it seems it has been a number of years since such a deep clean of our roadsides has occurred, and it was non too soon! Items of interest included several golf balls, an Army baseball cap, a garden hose nozzle, a rifle magazine, a full engine block and a halfway decent hoodie. A surprising number for road reflectors made it to the shoulders. Of the innumerable fluid containers found an unsettling proportion held alcoholic beverages. These cleanups proved taxing on the mechanical grabbers I employed. Three have failed me over the last four cleanup events with various parts or cables snapping. I suspect after this intense effort future regular cleanups will be much faster and simpler. Driving down Echo Lake Road after the second event my friend and I estimated over 50 bags of trash had been collected and the roadsides look so much better. Well done team!" Dave Ferguson

"For fun stuff, there were several vehicles that gave a nice shout out of thanks to the clean up crew. The other fun thing was finding so many golf balls near the east bound on ramp of 522. I picked up a dozen and others picked up a bunch too! Apparently there is a very large hole in the net at the golf range. It’s always surprising to me to see so much trash on the roads. It’s hard to imagine there are so many people that litter that way. I was wondering if there are signs available that say “Please Don’t Litter” that could be purchased and placed around the Echo Lake area. If so, I would be willing to donate funds towards the purchase of them and would also volunteer to help install them. They might help reduce the volume or at least make the litter bugs think twice. Thanks, Janet, for all you do for our community!!" Dale Utley

"We were truly impressed and are extremely grateful for the Echo Lake Road cleanup. Thank you!" Daniel Jankovic

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