Free kayaking and river cleanup camp set for Berwind Lake

Berwind Lake drew a practical kind of summer outing Saturday: a free youth kayaking and river cleanup camp aimed at giving McDowell County children a safe way onto the water while tackling the trash that still clogs local waterways. Whitecap Waste sponsored the event, which Friends of the Tug Fork River organized for children ages 8 to 18.

The camp was built around two goals that matter well beyond a single day on the lake. First, instructors taught basic kayak safety and how to get from the road to the put-in. Then the children helped pull trash and debris from the river, turning a recreation program into a cleanup effort with direct local value.

That combination lands in a county where river conditions shape both family recreation and the region’s ability to promote outdoor assets. Berwind Lake, near War, offers a public place where young paddlers can learn the basics, but Friends of the Tug Fork River has made clear that access alone is not enough if the waterway stays burdened by litter and larger debris.

The group described the camp as its third year of offering the program in 2026, after previous paddle camps in Mingo County and Pike County. Its event page said the camp was free and open to kids ages 8 to 18, with a limited number of kayaks and life jackets available to loan on a first-come, first-served basis. That setup made the event accessible for families that do not already own gear.

Friends of the Tug Fork River says it was formed to preserve and protect the Tug Fork River and its watershed, raise awareness of its history, and develop recreation, tourism and economic opportunities for the area. The organization’s cleanup work shows how large the challenge remains: as of fall 2024, it said McDowell County cleanup efforts had removed more than 1,000 large bags of litter and 300 tons of larger items. Its annual Tire Tug of War cleanup effort began in 2019 and has recovered many tires from the river system.

The Tug Fork itself is a major regional waterway, stretching 159 miles from near the Virginia state line in McDowell County to Louisa, Kentucky, where it joins the Levisa Fork to form the Big Sandy River. It is part of the Mississippi River watershed, which gives local cleanup work consequences far beyond Berwind. For McDowell County, the camp underscored a larger question already in play: who keeps the river usable, and whether the pace of cleanup can keep up with the need.