Fall arrives at 9:54 this evening. So can the annual Connecticut River Source to SeaCleanup be far behind to deal with what’s fallen in the river and its tributaries?
The Connecticut River Conservancy will hosting its 22nd annual Source to Sea Cleanup next weekend, Sept. 28 and 29, with the participation of hundreds of volunteers along the waterways – and a dozen cleanup groups in Franklin County alone.
“Some really unbelievable things have been pulled from our rivers, including a cement mixer, parking meters, propane tanks, and junk cars,” says Stacey Lennard, the conservancy’s cleanup coordinator. This year, in addition to working with more than 100 local cleanup groups across Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Connecticut to remove about 50 tons of small trash, the Greenfield-based nonprofit will continue working on the cleanup of these large trash items:
In Greenfield, for example, multiple junk cars are being removed from a small brook near the Green River in Murphy Park, with help from Nartowicz Tree Services.
Near Colorado Street, work that’s been done over the past two years will continue to remove thousands of tires dumped along the Deerfield River for recycling, with voluntary assistance from large equipment, trucks, and employees of Lane Construction.
There are a number of large cleanup sites that CRC still need help with: in Whately, with a group from the Unitarian Universalist Society of Amherst; near the Stillwater Bridge, where the River Roaders group is still seeking volunteers; and along the Green River in Greenfield, where groups are also seeing additional help.
The conservancy this year is also asking Cleanup participants and everyone who enjoys the rivers to join in demanding an end to trashed waterways. A petition to pressure legislators and corporate decision-makers to implement solutions to reduce trash is available at www.ctriver.org/our-work/source-to-sea-cleanup/takeaction.
“Our goal is to keep trash and tires from getting in our rivers in the first place and to eventually put ourselves out of the business of cleaning up our rivers. We all have a responsibility to solve this problem-individuals, manufacturers, businesses, and government,” says the organization’s executive director, Andrew Fisk.
To find a nearby cleanup group near you, visit https://www.ctriver.org/our-work/source-to-sea-cleanup/, and click on ‘Join a Group.’