Sewickley Creek Watershed Association in Westmoreland County teamed up again this year with Firestone Building Products and Boy Scout Troop 465 on April 22 to celebrate Earth Day by cleaning up litter and trash from four miles of roadway and a mile of stream banks around Youngwood Borough and Hempfield and Unity Townships. 

Sixty bags of trash, several tires, mattresses, desks and demolition debris were collected.  The Association coordinated its efforts with Youngwood Borough residents who cleaned additional streets that morning. 

The Associations would like to thank the Youngwood Borough Public Works Department for hauling away all of the trash collected.

Hats off to Firestone for, once again, sponsoring lunch for all of the volunteers.  Many plant employees also assisted with the cleanup effort. 

“This is one of the ways that we try to give back to the community where we operate and where our employees live,” said Michael McCrea, Plant Manager for Firestone’s Youngwood complex.  “We enjoy having the stream right outside our doors and the green space that surrounds the industrial park.  We want to help make our community a more attractive place to live.”

Scout Leader, Dan Laco, spent some of his morning trying to answer questions from the younger scouts such as…”Why do we have to clean litter along the same roads and stream banks every year?  What kind of people would throw mattresses into the weeds instead of putting them out for curbside garbage pickup?  Why do people throw tires into the stream instead of recycling them?  At least they could leave them along the road for easier pickup.” 

Maybe some of our readers can answer those questions! 

Dan suggested…”It’s probably a fraction of one percent of our society that would even consider throwing litter out the car window.  But when the same people do it day-after-day, it’s enough to create an eyesore along an otherwise beautiful stream and roadway.” 

Troop 465 has been partnering with Sewickley Creek on Earth Day projects since 1996.

Click Here for photos from the Earth Day Cleanup event.              

For more information on programs, initiatives and other upcoming events, visit the Sewickley Creek Watershed Association website. The Associations helps manage the 168 square mile watershed drained by Sewickley Creek in Westmoreland County.  Their primary focus is remediation of abandoned mine discharges.  Other projects include building riparian buffers, trail development and environmental education. 

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[Posted: April 24, 2017]

5/1/2017