Volunteers will gather Sept. 23 for the Friends of Nolin Lake’s ninth annual Lakeshore Cleanup Campaign.

Danielle Robertson, a park ranger with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, said Friends of Nolin Lake puts the event on each year to clear litter on the lake’s shore.

“It is a way for people who love the lake to give back and help the lake,” she said.

Friends of Nolin Lake is looking for pontoon drivers to pilot their boats for the event, Robertson said.

Pontoons are a critical part of the effort each year because they’re needed to take people to areas of the lake’s shore that are otherwise difficult to access, she said.

People with smaller boats are also welcome for the event, Robertson said.

“We’d just send you out with two or three people instead of 10,” she said.

According to Alison Lile, the event’s coordinator but not a member of Friends of Nolin Lake’s board of directors, people with pontoons don’t need to register before the day of the event, though they can by calling the Corps of Engineers at 270-286-4511.

The event is scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. Volunteers are asked to arrive at the Moutardier, Wax, Dog Creek or Nolin Lake State Park ramps, where they will then board pontoons and be shuttled to other parts of the lake for the cleanup effort.

Robertson said volunteers will ride pontoons to various parts of Nolin Lake’s shore and walk around the bank, picking up garbage and depositing it in provided trash bags.

While sometimes trash at the lake can include large dump sites where tires or debris from construction sites have been illegally disposed of, the trash is mostly composed of regular detritus left behind from family outings.

“Normally, it’s Coke cans, beer bottles, things like that,” she said.

The increased rainfall the area has seen because of Hurricane Harvey will have an impact on this year’s event, Robertson said.

According to Robertson, recent heavy rainfall has caused the lake’s water level to rise 4.3 feet, which likely pushed a great deal of trash farther along the shore.

“It’ll actually be good for the cleanup because it’ll push the garbage up into the woods,” she said.

Lile said Friends of Nolin Lake is dedicated to preserving the lake.

“Friends of Nolin Lake helps to preserve the lake as part of their mission,” she said.

After the lake is cleaned, which should take three or four hours, Friends of Nolin Lake will host a volunteer appreciation event that will include food from Bee Spring Restaurant and drawings for prizes, which have not yet been determined, Lile said.

“We try to come together to show our appreciation for people who come out and do this event,” she said.

This article has been updated since its initial publication to correct the date of the event.