When John Shehan sat down in front of a pile of precut boards piled on table in the reception center at John F. Kennedy Memorial Park he knew exactly what to do with each one of them to turn the lumber into a wood duck nesting box.

"I've been doing wood duck houses for many years," he said.

He then turned to his son, Park Ranger Pat Shehan, and with a wink in his eye answered the question of just how long that might be.

"Since before he was born," he said.

Shehan wasn't the only staffer who brought along a parent, Erin Ford had her mom, Helen Mehan, working on some smaller birdhouses.

Upon seeing the piles of wood and Shehan with his cordless drill her enthusiasm jumped up a bit.

"This is going to be fun, I get to use power tools," she said.

Working on the birdhouses or putting new line on fishing poles were two options open to participants in the Friends of Webster County Conservation cleanup day - the other was walking along Nelson Avenue from the park entrance south to the soccer fields picking up litter and debris from the ditches.

John Thrams, of Fort Dodge, and Brian Fishel, of Badger, were working together. In only 300 yards of ditch, the two had nearly filled their second bag with debris.

Fishel was motivated by his concern for the environment.

"People really need waking up," he said. "If we don't' take care of this it's not gonna be here anymore."

The pair were finding a variety of garbage: beer cans, food containers and wrappers, plastic bags and even a golf ball lost from the nearby course as well as several vodka bottles. Thrams even found a home-burned CD.

"Are you a Willie Nelson fan," he said while holding up the disc.

The amount of debris - and the variety - didn't seem to surprise either volunteer.

"People will throw anything away," Brian Fishel said.

TJ Lynn, of Vincent, and Mike Pavik were working a little further south.

The pair were finding the same sort of garbage as Thrams and Fishel with one strange addition, lots of single-serve ketchup packets.

Dennis and Michelle Schulte were going to spend some time in the ditches helping with the cleanup. They weren't sure what they would come across once in the field, but Dennis Schulte had hope.

"I"m looking for that winning lottery ticket in the dirt somewhere," he joked.

Matt Cosgrove, Webster County Conservation director, explained that the Friends of Webster County Conservation offer an excellent avenue for people who wish to volunteer their time help the park.

Contact Hans Madsen at (515) 573-2141 or hmadsen@messengernews.net