Q&A with Katie Martin, Executive Director of Keep Bartow Beautiful
If you’re passionate about Georgia’s waterways, you’re going to love learning more about this affiliate’s initiatives. Join us for a conversation about rain gardens, kayak cleanups, and the joy of paddling your way to a cleaner, greener environment.
What brought you to Keep Bartow Beautiful? Have you always had an interest in improving the environment?
I grew up on a seven acre farm here in Bartow County, and participated in 4-H in elementary school. We did a Rivers Alive event with Keep Bartow Beautiful, the Great Lake Allatoona Cleanup, and that was my first encounter with the organization. We even have photos of me from back then here in the office—seeing those was definitely a full circle moment. I eventually went off to the University of Georgia and received a degree in agricultural education. I’d planned to be a high school teacher, but that changed after COVID hit. I took a position at Keep Bartow Beautiful in 2020 and eventually became the executive director, and it’s been really cool to work in my hometown and keep our environment clean. It all connects, if you think about it—litter affects farmers’ income, and we need to maintain the quality of our land and waterways for everyone.
Your organization has made great strides to increase the number of green spaces within the county. Can you tell us about some of the gardens and trails you've installed?
One of our newest projects is the Hayes Park Rain Garden, which we began in August 2020. We collaborated with the city of Adairsville, Friends of Hayes Park, and Bartow County Master Gardeners to transform a muddy drainage ditch into a plot filled with asters, coneflowers, and other native pollinator plants. Their roots filter all the stormwater that used to settle there, which not only prevents flooding and erosion but protects our streams and lakes from pollutants. They also provide habitat and food sources for birds, butterflies, and bees. What I love most is that it’s next to our elementary school, so students can easily walk outside to enjoy it. We’re creating curriculum right now for the teachers so they can use it as an outdoor classroom.
Our county also has gardens next to the kayak inputs and outputs on the Etowah River, and a themed space in town that features plants mentioned in the works of William Shakespeare. Keep Bartow Beautiful even helped shape the Bartow Cartersville African American Heritage Trail several years back, which covers 20 historical sites. We’re fortunate to have a lot of great partners in the area.
The ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Hayes Park Rain Garden
What are some of your other favorite projects?
Rivers Alive events have always been my favorite, ever since I got involved with Keep Bartow Beautiful. We normally host two to three per year, and we partner with Keep Rome-Floyd Beautiful, Anheuser-Busch, and Georgia Power on those. We divide our volunteers into land and water crews to pick up litter and debris along the river, but I most enjoy getting out in a boat. It’s fun to paddle along and clean things up. We cohost the Great Lake Allatoona Cleanup every fall, which is a similar event. It’s also where we collect Christmas trees every winter to support fish habitat sites.
What else does your affiliate look forward to in the future? What further impact do you hope to see?
This year, we’re focusing on our Adopt-a-Road program. We’ve had four or five new groups sign up over the past year, which is great, but we’re working to improve our reporting system so we can have a better sense of what they accomplish. We’re making it more electronically-friendly and easy to use. We’re also really excited about some of our upcoming recycling events. We’re gearing up for our second scrap tire amnesty event next month, and we just kicked off our school recycling contest. Every school in the city of Cartersville and Bartow County is participating, which is exciting, and we’re getting ready to visit classrooms and lead recycling lessons. We have a recycling center here as well as several drop-off locations, so it’s good to get students interested and involved. They help us spread the word!
Any advice for people looking to make their communities cleaner, greener, or more beautiful?
I always tell people that it’s great to start small! You can always expand later. Just take that first step and go from there. Every little thing you do contributes to a larger change.