The Department of Environmental Protection is joining with other organizations and community leaders to urge the public to join an Erie area tradition—the Pennsylvania/Lake Erie International Coastal Cleanup, to be held this year on September 19.

In the past six years participants have removed nearly 36 tons of debris and trash from the Lake Erie shoreline and watershed.

At a news conference on Presque Isle State Park, the group urged residents of northwest Pennsylvania to help clean up trash around Erie County waterways from 9 a.m. until noon on September 19.

DEP Northwest Regional Director Kelly Burch said weather conditions in 2009 have contributed to increased trash deposits along the shoreline and streams in the watershed.

“Our snowy winter turned into a rainy summer, flushing litter that was carelessly dropped in parking lots and along roadways in Erie County into streams and waterways,” said Burch. “This litter is washed toward Lake Erie and can be carried for miles, eventually ending up along the water’s edge, lodged in a streambed, or swept into the lake.

This year’s International Coastal Cleanup will include 15 sites along the Lake Erie shoreline, from Raccoon Creek in western Erie County to the North East Marina, 20 Mile Creek and Freeport Beach on the eastern end of the county.

Two downtown Erie neighborhoods will participate for their second year through the Erie Downtown Partnership and Little Italy Revitalization Association.

“Erie Downtown feels it is important to participate in the International Coastal Cleanup for several reasons, with education being at the top of the list,” said Erie Downtown Partnership Chief Executive Director Brenda A. Sandberg. “While we are an urbanized area that appears somewhat disconnected from the water, any trash that is improperly discarded downtown eventually finds its way to our storm sewers and ends up in Presque Isle Bay, a major Erie showcase. We hope that our participation will raise the awareness of that connection.”

“We are making real progress in restoring this historic neighborhood and International Coastal Cleanup helps with that revitalization effort,” said Little Italy Revitalization Association Project Manager Melanie Williams. “Who doesn’t feel more comfortable and inclined to invest effort and resources in a neighborhood if that neighborhood is clean and attractive? Picking up litter is something that everyone can do to improve a neighborhood.”

In the past six years, 3,390 local volunteers have collected and documented 71,311 pounds of trash within the Lake Erie watershed.

Last year, students from ten Erie County schools participated in the ICC cleanup. The information gathered in past cleanups has been used as educational material for environmental programs in local schools and highlighted in the Erie Times-News Newspapers in Education section.

International Coastal Cleanup is the oldest and largest volunteer project of its kind.