Bayou Meto WMA cleanup set

George Cochran and Roger Milligan will hold the eighth annual Bayou Meto Wildlife Management Area cleanup Saturday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Volunteers will meet at the Mulberry Access at Bayou Meto WMA to organize into groups before picking up litter.

It is a way for hunters to give back to a place that gives us so much.

Cochran, who has hunted ducks at Bayou Meto WMA since the 1960s, conceptualized the first cleanup in 2011 with Milligan, a retired Arkansas Game and Fish Commission biologist who managed Bayou Meto WMA for many years.

Like most people who frequented Bayou Meto, Cochran grew accustomed to the WMA’s unkempt condition. In addition to household appliances in the waterways, the woods and access areas contained an overabundance of drink cans, plastic bottles, plastic wrappers and other flotsam.

To be fair, hunters probably were not the culprits. Most of the junk floats into the area and settles in the woods during floods, but by 2011, it had accumulated to eyesore levels. One gets used to it and accepts it until a voice of reason shakes you from complacency.

“One day my son David asked me, ‘Dad, has it always been this trashy down here?’” Cochran said in a 2011 interview. “That caught me by surprise, and it hit me. No. It wasn’t always like this, and it shouldn’t be like this.”

Cochran got together with Milligan, whose fondness for the WMA probably runs even deeper than Cochran’s. He also knew how to navigate all of the AGFC’s administrative channels to organize a complicated event on a stateowned area.

The first cleanup was a success by any measure. Nearly 40 volunteers removed several tons of trash, which were deposited in giant bins and hauled away.

Since then, the number of volunteers has hovered around 25 people. They remove progressively less trash every year because they got so much the first two or three years. Comparatively, smaller items come in each year, and so the focus has changed, Cochran said.

“We got all the big stuff out,” Cochran said. “Seldom do we find washers and dryers. Mainly we just do the roads and parking lots, just picking up cans from the sides of the road, the camping areas and parking areas. We do take a boat, and if there is anything, we get it.”

The objective now is to raise awareness and instill pride of ownership among volunteers for the crown jewel of the state’s wildlife management area system in the spirit of nonconsumptive conservation.

It’s the same strategy that volunteer groups use to police interstate highway rights of way, lakes and streams.

“When people see litter, they think it’s OK to litter, too,” Cochran said in 2011. “When they come to a place that’s clean, I think they’re more reluctant to throw something out.”

I participated in the first four cleanups. They were

productive, and I was astonished at the number of cigarette butts, aluminum can tabs and bottle tops at the parking areas, especially the Mulberry, Tipton and Cox Cypress access areas.

Those were fun, communal affairs that passed surprisingly fast despite the heat and humidity. I made some lasting friendships, notably with Jess “The Undertaker” Essex.

After the cleanup, a fish fry will be held near the Long Bell Access. A food truck also will be on hand, and Cochran said it has been a major asset the past couple of years.

Cochran said his cabin is inaccessible from Altheimer because the bridge is disabled. To reach Cochran’s cabin, cross the railroad tracks at Wabbeseka and take the first left, which is Long Bell Road. When you reach the WMA, signs will direct you to the cabin.

In the past, a number of volunteers bailed out when they discovered the area manager wouldn’t be present. They were more interested in complaining about water management practices on the

WMA and other topics.

A proposed regulation about limiting nonresidents to duck hunting on certain days at Bayou Meto and other WMAs will be a hot topic over the next 30 days. The cleanup is not an appropriate venue for discussing regulations proposals, and the AGFC’s wildlife management staff members have little influence over such items anyway. It would be more productive to direct comments to the members of the commission.

For more information about the cleanup, contact Cochran at (501) 282-5344 or Milligan at (870) 377-2160.