As use grows at South Worland pond, so does littering, graffiti

WORLAND - Several businesses and groups gathered nearly 20 years ago to enhance the South Worland Pond, just south of the airport and the Green Hills Golf Course, and now several city departments are working to keep the recreation area nice.

Airport Manager Lynn Murdoch said the area was donated for recreational purposes.

She said the pond is used year round for fishing with ice fishermen coming out in the winter.

She said the pond is also used by the area schools for kayaking. No swimming or motor watercraft is allowed on the pond.

The pond, itself, is fed by the canal and stocked by the Wyoming Game and Fish.

In addition to the nice 400 jumbo catfish that were recently stocked by the Wyoming Game and Fish, Murdoch said they also catch blue gill and trout.

"It gets a lot of local traffic, kids usually bike or walk to come fishing," she added.

But the increased traffic has its drawbacks. "We've been picking up a lot more trash this year but it seems the more we pick up the less people leave behind," Murdoch said. She and her staff have been cleaning up the picnic table areas, parking lot and pier every Monday.

Murdoch said she would like to appeal to the users of the pond to police themselves and if they "pack it in, pack it out."

There is one dumpster for trash located in the parking lot, but Murdoch said people seem to need trash cans closer so they are looking at getting some smaller trash receptacles to place closer to the picnic tables for people to use.

The airport crew has also been handling the mowing around the picnic area and the city parks and recreation crews work on the weeds in the area.

This year, they also had to deal with some "horrible" graffiti of works painted on the metal banisters and on the ice on the pier. The crews worked to remove the paint and/or cover up the graffiti, including on the ice rather than wait for the ice to melt.

While the pond is owned by the city, it was the public and private businesses who donated time and money to enhance the pond for everyone's use.

Murdoch said she hopes that while the city will continue their work, the public will also do their part in keeping the recreation area nice for everyone to use.

BACKGROUND

In the early 2000s, Mike St Clair said he was notified that the Wyoming Game and Fish was going to drain the pond in order to create some fish habitat. He said he and his Boy Scout Troop 45 took on the project of constructing habitat from old pallets and tires, all under the direction of the Game and Fish.

While working on the project, St Clair said he thought the pond would be an ideal location for a handicap fishing pier so he took the idea to his WBI Energy supervisor at the time, Rick Rigg, who also "thought it was a tremendous idea and gave me open range on the project."

He secured funding from Montana-Dakota Utilities Resources Foundation to help purchase metal for the pier and enlisted the aid of the engineering firm where his brother-in-law worked, AVI engineering to review the plans to ensure they met American with Disabilities Act requirements.

Several local business donated labor, equipment and material to assist in the project, St Clair said.

Once the pier was constructed, along with some paved parking spots, he took funding from corporate community service awards he received to purchase picnic tables for the pond.

One table with a shelter was an Eagle Scout project of his son Bradley.

He said he went out to the pond after the dedication and there was an older gentleman fishing on the pier and his wife was sitting at one of the picnic tables. She thanked St Clair for the pier noting it allowed her husband to go fishing where he couldn't previously. That was a "good reward" from the project, he said.