The Beltzville State Park Concerned Citizens were back at the park this weekend to help spread awareness of various issues within the area regarding overcrowding from out of state, garbage, unlawful parking, and swimming in undesignated areas of the lake.

The group gathered at the Beltzville picnic area where people in support of the cause could enjoy free food and drinks and play games such as cornhole. The group made a variety of signs in both English and Spanish to promote keeping the lake clean. They also handed out garbage bags to visitors at the park entrance expressing their core message, “Keep our park clean so we can keep our park open.”

The event was hosted by group member Nate Hunsicker, who spoke out on these problems as well as feasible solutions.

With so many people visiting the park, it is hard to keep track of every misconduct. Hunsicker proposed hiring more park rangers, which could help prevent future violations.

“The staff here at the park are undermanned and I don’t think that there’s a lot of organization. They aren’t ready to handle this many people so I definitely think they need more park rangers.”

The Department of Natural Conservation and Resources said Friday it will be sending more rangers from other parks to deal with issues caused by the large crowds.

Gates which provided unauthorized access were blocked, but the state said it cannot limit the park to Pennsylvania residents.

Hunsicker said lack of enforcement could potentially lead to various safety issues as well.

“There’s very specific areas at the park for very specific things. The swimming area is meant for swimming, there’s spots in the lake that are meant for jet skiing, and there’s also no-wake zones around boat launches and stuff like that. What’s happening is that there’s so many people and a lack of enforcement which leads to people doing these activities in spots that aren’t meant for them which causes safety hazards.”

He added, “People show up from New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Maryland and they want to use the park so if the parking lot is full they look for anywhere along the lake to park (not the designated parking lots) and then they try to go down into the lake to swim where there might be fishing hooks. We have crappie cages under 12 feet of water too, and if someone got their foot or hand caught in a crappie cage you wouldn’t be able to find them.”

Hunsicker addressed the garbage issue. “What I think is a great idea is a place that people can get (garbage) bags when they first come into the park. Then close to the exit of the park, they can have a place on their way out where people can drop off their trash. Also I think if they did a tour every noon for example with a truck so people could just drop off their trash to the people in the truck as they come around to lessen the huge cleanup efforts when the park is closed.”

Hunsicker favors limiting the park to Pennsylvania residents at least during the pandemic.

“The social distancing here is irrelevant, people don’t do it especially in the swimming area with people urinating and spitting in the water. That’s a breeding ground for COVID-19 in my opinion,” Hunsicker said.

The group plans to use money from their GoFundMe page to possibly host future gatherings like this one or to purchase a garbage bag dispenser for the park entrance.

Concerned locals who witness park violations are encouraged to report them to park rangers or call 911 depending on the severity of the situation.