“On the count of three!”
Two pairs of legs flipped above the surface of the pond and disappeared. A long moment later, spluttering and panting, two swimmers emerged with a slimy, decomposing truck tire held between them. As if by magic, a green kayak slid into position ready to skewer the tire and ferry it to shore.
“The legs are the signal that I’m needed,” explained Diane Hammer, the garbage collector of the Old Ladies Against Underwater Garbage. This is the group of women, from the age of sixty-four to eighty-two that have been cleaning up ponds from Falmouth to Brewster this summer.
Founded in 2018, by Susan Baur, a retired psychologist and passionate turtle advocate, the group started in Chatham by cleaning up Goose Pond on a whim. Several ponds in Falmouth followed. Then in 2020, the idea that there is a ready source of adventure as well as balls, cans, lures, tires, boats, docks and lawn chairs in ponds across Cape Cod took hold and the old ladies got to work. Perfecting their technique on every clean-up, the group now enlists the help of town conservation commissions and pond associations to provide kayak support, shore clean-up, garbage disposal, occasionally a small donation, and of course cookies.
“We stagger out of the pond after ninety minutes elated and famished,” Baur explains, “and what better solution than to have a giant pan of hermits on hand or brownies. And water.”
This season, the six swimmers and one garbage collector have undertaken eight clean ups in Dennis, Falmouth, and Brewster. After each, onlookers thank them for undertaking such a slimy, miserable job, but that’s not the way the swimmers see it.
“We get to go on an exciting treasure hunt in a beautiful underwater world,” said one. “We are the trash collectors of Wonderland.”
Next spring the group will hold an open house for anyone of any age or gender interested in joining the group or starting a chapter of their own.
(Top Image: Julia Benz of Falmouth, Paula Wiseman of Chatham, and Susan Baur)
For more ideas about how to save your pond, go to State of the Waters Action Plan.
And remember, always check with your local conservation office before undertaking any projects around a pond so that you don’t run afoul of local and state wetlands protection regulations.
Pond Stories are a collection of writings and other media from Cape Codders and visitors who love the almost 1,000 local ponds that dot the Cape. We hope this collection of stories awakens your inner environmentalist to think deeper about our human impacts to these unique bodies of water.
Send us your favorite pond photo, story, poem, video, artwork–we want to share with everyone why the Cape’s ponds and lakes are so special! Email your pond connection to [email protected]
