Big Canoe Receives The August 2022 Green Ribbon Award

August 2022

Keep Pickens Beautiful awards the August 2022 Green Ribbon to the Big Canoe POA.  Big Canoe is famous for being a managed mountain community with scenic drives, well-maintained green spaces, an abundance of wildlife, and lots of outdoor amenities.   KPB works closely with the Pickens County Recycling Center and has received reports regarding the volume they recycle, effectively diverting significant amounts of waste from the landfills.    These were the initial reasons for awarding the POA the Green Ribbon.  However, the KPB team learned there is much more happening within the Big Canoe community.

Ecological Foundation of Big Canoe

Beginning in 1972, rooted in ecological principals led by resident ecologist Dr. Robert Platt, the standards that are still practiced today were established.  Upon speaking with the Big Canoe POA Director of Operations, Lydell Mack, KPB realized that many of Big Canoe’s principles support of the pillars of KPB’s mission, including beautification, environmental stewardship, and education.

Some of Big Canoe’s beautification initiatives include focusing on incorporating native plants into the landscape and eradicating invasive and non-native plants.  This helps to maintain healthy ecosystems that require less maintenance while improving the biodiversity.  The POA manages and maintains the public spaces to enhance the community and promote outdoor living.  Additionally, there are more than 25 miles of hiking trails maintained through volunteerism.

The Big Canoe community recognizes the importance of environmental stewardship.  For example, the POA enforces strict construction and other land disturbance regulations.  This ensures that natural features are protected, streams and creeks aren’t altered, and trees, including their trunks and their roots are protected.  After construction, erosion control measures must remain until the area is stabilized.

Additional examples of Big Canoe’s focus on environmental stewardship include being registered with the Atlanta Audubon Society as an official Wildlife Sanctuary and strict golf course water management and conservation practices.  They have a wildlife and forestry management program that actively combats the woolly adelgid on their Hemlock trees, and the Black Bear Project promotes harmonious living with the area’s wildlife.

Educational opportunities are woven throughout the Big Canoe community to help the guests and residents better understand the intentions of the various programs and initiatives.  Informative signs and brochures are available at trailheads, and the Parks and Trails of Big Canoe website offers additional details.  Information is provided to guests and residents explaining the flora, fauna, and guidelines within the community.

Adopt-A-Road Volunteers

Keep Pickens Beautiful has had a long relationship with Big Canoe’s Wildflower Bunch Garden Club.  In July of 2017, they adopted Steve Tate Highway though KPB’s Adopt-A-Road program.  Since then, they have collected 14,866 gallons of garbage (or 496 30-gallon bags) and volunteered 435 hours.  Just in 2022, the Wildflower Bunch has averaged 282 gallons of roadside trash collected and more than 6.5 volunteer hours per month.  This Adopt-A-Road group has made a huge impact on keeping Pickens County clean. 

As stated by Dr. Robert Platt, “Conservation begins with one flower and one person enjoying its undisturbed beauty and walking past….Property owners and their families expect to enjoy this natural beauty for a long, long time…. Because of our collective ownership, we have a great opportunity to develop for ourselves an ethic such that over the years we can continue to enjoy these natural areas and at the same time maintain their environmental quality.  This is an attainable challenge.  It comes down to each person treating the entire area as if it were his own home.” 

Keep Pickens Beautiful thanks everyone in our community who helps to beautify, reduce waste, and educate.  By working together, more will be achieved.  Please submit nominees for future Green Ribbon Award recipients to KPB.

Keep Pickens Beautiful Awards The Green Ribbon To 1-800-Packouts

February/March 2022

The Green Ribbon is awarded to local businesses and organizations for their beautification efforts and environmental stewardship.  For February/March 2022, KPB has awarded the Green Ribbon to 1-800-Packouts.

If your home or business experiences a flood, fire, or other disaster, 1-800-Packouts is there to help!  They will come ‘pack out’ all the items in your home or business and will store them in their private storage facilities until you’re ready to move back in.  If your items are damaged, such as fabrics that smell like smoke from a fire, they have specialized tools and processes to clean your property before placing it in storage.

1-800-Packouts’ Efforts to Recycle and Reuse

Keep Pickens Beautiful learned about the services provided by 1-800-Packouts from Kenny Woodard, the director at the Pickens Recycling Center (and one of our Board members).  He told us that they recycle a tremendous volume of cardboard, to the extent that they bought their own roll-off cardboard dumpster that they take to our local center every week or two!

As 1-800-Packouts explains: 

Recycling cardboard was something we saw as being a good steward of resources, but we did not realize the impact it had on our community.  When we reached out to Kenny Woodard to discuss recycling options, he showed such enthusiasm for supporting our efforts to recycle.  He explained the benefits of recycling and the impact we would have with reducing landfill waste and increasing revenue for Pickens County.  He even allowed us to take our box truck filled with recyclable cardboard to the new recycling center.  Since then, we have changed our recycling process to a dedicated recycling dumpster that we can easily dump at the recycling center.

In addition to the recycling efforts of 1-800-Packouts, they also divert truckloads of reusable items from the landfill.  Often, after a disaster, people will decide that they no longer want their items.  The 1-800-Packouts team takes these reusable items to the Community Thrift Store.  They are either sold in the Thrift Store to help generate funds to support their many worthy causes such as community grants, CARES, Good Samaritan, the Pregnancy Center, and more.  Any items that the Pickens County community can’t use are then taken to Must Ministries (who serves Cherokee and Cobb counties).

Keep Pickens Beautiful thanks 1-800-Packouts and their team for diverting so much from landfills through recycling and donating for reuse.  KPB is honored to award them the Green Ribbon for February/March 2022.

61 Main wins Keep Pickens Beautiful’s Green Ribbon Award for October

October 2021

Keep Pickens Beautiful recognizes that their mission is possible only through a team effort.  Their focus is to promote beautification and waste reduction through education and leadership, and to demonstrate how the combined efforts of many can lead to big changes.  Some of the programs sponsored by KPB are Adopt A Road, Edible Jasper, the Green Thumb Award, and the Green Ribbon Award, all of which are successful thanks to the hard work of their volunteers and community members.

The Green Ribbon Award recognizes extraordinary efforts made by local residents and businesses.  Keep Pickens Beautiful awards 61 Main the Green Ribbon for October!  Congratulations!

61 Main has been serving delicious farm-to-table dishes to Pickens County for more than 13 years.  In addition to working with local farmers and resources for their ingredients and materials, they also make an effort to reduce their environmental impact in many other ways.

• Customers get compostable to-go containers.
• They use reusable containers in their kitchen for food storage rather than single-use to reduce waste.
• Glass, plastic, cardboard, and metal are recycled.
• Food scraps are composted or shared with local farm animals.
• Used vegetable oil is recycled.
• Whenever possible, they consolidate deliveries to reduce their carbon footprint.
• The 61 Main storefront is always beautified!

Keep Pickens Beautiful thanks 61 Main for helping to improve the community by preparing amazing food and for serving as an example for environmental responsibility! Nominees for the Green Ribbon and Green Thumb awards are always welcome!