When: Saturday, FEB 21st 2026, meet in LZ at 10am.  Sunday the 22nd will be the back-up day.

What? Annual Pond Clean-Up.

Who?  CSS Members and Free-Flight Conservancy Friends. We need at least a dozen, but we’d really love to see 20 to 25 volunteers come out.  It’s a LOT of work to pull off in one day, so the more hands we have on the effort, the faster it will go.

Where?  The Pond, duh.

Why? Well, It’s time to help out the Free Flight Conservancy and pitch in our labor to do an annual Pond clean up.  This year we are d0ing a deeper dive (pun intended) and will be cleaning the inside of the pond itself, more details below.

Generally, we tidy up the pond every year by pulling weeds, pressure washing the deck, and other yard-work types of tasks.  It isn’t super hard work, but maximum participation makes it a quick activity that can be accomplished by lunch.

A bigger task we are adding this year is to clean the Pond liner.  We will be draining the pond slowly over the preceding weeks by deep-watering the LZ to promote new seed germination.  The water level will go down daily over 20 days until there is barley any water left in the bottom. Don’t worry about the fish, there will be enough water left for them to be ok. We will be able to clean out the extra mud that accumulates in the bottom, fish out all the cellphones, keys, and watches that I’m sure we will find, and scrub off any excessive algae growth from the sides.  We are also taking the opportunity to replace the intake filter that screens debris from the water as it enters the irrigation supply line.

Any folks that volunteer to help with the “in-pond’ tasks will need to be prepared to get wet, the water in the very bottom of the pond will still be knee to waist deep so bring swim trunks and towels.  For those you that would prefer not get to get wet, there is plenty of dry work to be done on ground level.  For those tasks, yard tools, rakes, clippers and such will be handy.

Everyone should meet in the LZ at 10am and we will provide rides up to the Pond in the Ranger. PLEASE, DO NOT drive up to the Pond in your own vehicle!