Volunteers wanted for summer fun at Oliver

Guests at Oliver Reservoir will soon see a new Camp Host.

Kimball County Sheriff Harry Gillway was the Camp Host last summer, and a shining familiar light was seen from the small lake that was forgotten years ago with the increased number of visitors.

In many opinions Oliver was a well kept and well respected lake and campground in the panhandle. The area was kept safe, clean and user friendly.

It seems noticeable to frequent Oliver visitors that the lake this camping season isn’t what it has been in the past. Campers who spend the majority of the summer, and even the day trip fishers and swimmers, have noticed a lack of responsibility taken by visitors at both camp sites and swimming areas.

The problem isn’t just the trash blowing, but even worse, those campers and day trippers who are purposely leaving their trash behind, including full trash bags, tied and left at the site poles, beer bottles all over camp sites, in parts of the swimming area and some even left in the water to sink.

With the glass bottles and cans in the swimming area safety is becoming a bigger concern for many. Vehicles driving not paying close attention, parking, and even setting up camp on the beach of the swimming area that is marked with signs reading no vehicles past this point.

At this point in the year some lake guests have taken it upon themselves to disrupt others camp sites, and campers even take items that don’t belong to them.

Oliver Reservoir has and is still a pack-it-in, pack-it-out camp ground. This seems to have been lost somewhere over the cold winter months, or is it possible the knowledge of no Camp Host is dampening the responsibilities of some lake goers?

For these reasons, Oliver Reservoir is in desperate need of a Camp Host Volunteer, to once again restore order and put these issues to rest.

To that end, at the monthly South Platte Natural Resource District (SPNRD) meeting, last Tuesday, the board approved the qualification requirements for a Camp Host volunteer position at Oliver Reservoir, along with an approved application.

“We are hoping to have someone in that position by the Fourth of July, if not by the holiday, there should be someone in that position right after,” said Galen Wittrock, Assistant Manager for the SPNRD.