Lake Chelan shoreline clean-up is set for Saturday

Trash and debris floating in Lake Chelan can be unsightly, polluting the waters and often times ending up on the shoreline.

The Lake Chelan Research Institute wants to better understand where it's coming from. Scouring the lakeshore and picking up debris is a good starting point and the third annual 'Restore the Shore' clean-up is taking place on Saturday.

"Some of the trash has come off docks, come off boats; been there for years," said Anna Galipeau, a member of the research group. "We've found some pretty old, cool things actually on the shore; like some metal cans and you look at it and your like, that's been there for a while. Lots of sunglasses, we've found a pair of working scissors, lots of little kids toys, and we found a binky and know a mom is missing that."

To help determine what is fouling up the lake and where it's coming from, a smart phone application, TrashBlitz is being used.

"You can log it, you can say what brand it is, you can put in where you found it and what material it's made of and how many of that item did you find," Galipeau added. "When we know what we're finding and where we're finding it, we can really get ahead of the trash that's in the lake. The hope is that we hope we can raise awareness that there is trash in the lake and we can identify where is it most coming from so we can either post signs and raise awareness in those areas."

"There's quite a few tires in the lake, and tires can leach off different chemicals and micro-plastics, and so we're really interested in getting some of these tires out," said Galipeau.

Clean-up volunteers can join the shoreline clean-up, beginning at 9:30 a.m., Saturday, April 12, at the Lake Chelan city marina parking lot, between the drive-in and Don Morse Park.

Learn more about 'Restore the Shore' here.

Information on the Lake Chelan Research Institute can be found here.