By HEATHER NELLIS

For the Express

Tired of publicized littering problems on Sand Island, some of its patrons have decided to do something about it.

Seasonal and out-of-state residents have started group cleanup events and proposed a citizens patrol, a response to the combination of old and new trash that has plagued the popular recreation spot.

Guilderland resident Penny Martinsen created a grassroots group on social networking site Facebook called “Pitch in, pick up, let’s clean up our island.”

The first concerted effort took place Aug. 14, with more on the horizon in the near future. Simply, Martinsen and others decided to bring buckets with them and pick up garbage others have left behind.

“Everyone knows about ‘carry in, carry out,’” she said, referring to state park policies about garbage. “Even if it’s just a little bit extra people can do while they’re there, just a couple minutes of their time, it will really make a difference.”

Even if people can’t make the event this weekend, Martinsen said a concerted effort isn’t necessary to go the extra mile.

“It doesn’t have to be a big supervised event,” she said. “If everyone who comes out just stopped for a minute and clean up the trash they find.”

Sand Island is a former farmland hilltop that cleared the surface of the lake when the Sacandaga Valley was flooded in 1930 to create the reservoir.

It’s rumored the Hudson River-Black River Regulating District, which governs the lake, used to collect patrons’ garbage in metal barrels, and bury them beneath the island’s surface in the 1960s, ‘70s and ‘80s. Erosion from the reservoir’s rising and falling water levels have unearthed the barrels and their contents.

Broken glass, both old and new, lines the island’s shores, and more often than not, patrons collect the glass and leave it under a toppled tree, or leave it where they find it. When the water levels rise and fall, the glass finds itself in its original home.

“As you’re getting ready to leave, instead of putting the glass in a bush, just put it in a bucket and bring it with you,” Martinsen said.

Seasonal resident Matthew Kichar said he’s vacationed on the lake for 50 years.

“In the ‘50s, I would take the rowboat out and pick up garbage on the island. It’s always perturbed me. Since then, it’s cleared up quite a bit but it’s starting all over again.”

Kichar, who lives in Connecticut, said he’s seen citizen patrols on the Housatonic River, and that’s something he’d like to see tried.

“They’d get a business to donate water craft vehicles, and people would go out and make sure no one is dumping their garbage. We couldn’t do anything as far as arrests, but we could take down boat license numbers and threaten to report them to state police. Good people would see them and say ‘thank you,’ and bad people might think twice before they make a mess.”

Kichar said he hopes to run the idea by Northampton Supervisor Linda Kemper for consideration.