Members of the Richard Lake Stewardship Committee will be hosting a family and clean-up barbecue this Sunday, from noon to 3 pm, at Richard Lake camping areas.
"Last year we had 100 people out, and with all the prizes we
have, $1,000 in total, I think more will come out this year,"
said organizer Brenda Polano.
"With over over 100 prizes from south end merchants, including
a satellite Star Choice dish from Selectronics and a $200 Bell
phone  I expect many will win," she said.
"We also have a lot of activities for the children including
a fish pond and the Lily Creek Bluegrass band for the youth,"
she said.
Free bags of organic fertilizer will be given away to educate
lakeside residents and cottagers that they need to only use
fertilizers which are slow release and which have a lower
nitrogen and phosphorus content in order to safeguard water
quality said Polano.
The group, charged with improving the quality of Richard
Lake was formed in 2005, said Polano.
Founding members were Alex and Jackie Cieslewicz, Melissa
Julian, Mike Mallory, Brian Wills and herself, she said.
The group who live on or nearby the lake, organized ditch
clean-ups this Earth Day and annual clean-ups.
"We have pulled out tires and all kinds of junk out of the
lake-you never know what you will find in there," said Polano.
Divers from Waterways Diving Club will enter the water 
Sunday looking for garbage.
Hundreds of spruce trees have planted including 150 at the
Mine Mill campground, Carol Campsite and at the Ukrainian
Federation campground.
Sundays' event is all about educating the public, said
Polano.
"We organized the group ourselves to deal with the issue of lake stewardship. It does not affect just our lake. We are at the headwaters of the Lake Penache watershed."
In fact, their logo says Guardian of the Watershed, said Polano.
"What happens here affects downstream waters so we have an important job to alert people to the impact their actions have, whether they are using pesticides, altering their shoreline that affect fish habitat or overusing lawn fertilizers on property beside the shoreline."
