On October 29, 38 students from Conneaut Area Senior High School under the direction of teachers Eugene Bocan and Mike Vorisek headed out to pick up litter along the Pennsylvania shoreline of Pymatuning Reservoir in Crawford County.  

The students were from Microbiology, Advanced Biology, and Medical & Scientific Terminology classes at the high school. 

They worked from the Ohio Line near Jamestown to the Red Cross Bay on the north end of the lake. 

Armed with garbage bags and gloves donated by PennDOT, the students picked up litter from the heavily used access points around the lake just in time for winter. 

This marked the thirteenth year in a row the students headed out to the lake during the fall for a litter sweep. 

In the programs initial years it was not difficult for the students to pick up 4-5 heaping pick-up truck loads of trash.  Much of it had been there a very long time. 

This year the students filled 3 truck-loads from the park, much of it from an old dump site in the woods near Red Cross Bay.  The program is intended to be a service project for the students, as well as a learning experience. 

It has been obvious by the student’s comments and enthusiasm over the years that this is very personal for them, and 2019 was no different.   The students take pride in their backyard and are not afraid to dig in to thorn bushes to pull out a discarded pop can or bait container.

The long running project was coordinated by the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Pymatuning State Park, Crawford County Conservation District, Allegheny College Creek Connections and University of Pittsburgh Pymatuning Laboratory of Ecology.

If you have questions please contact either Gene Bocan or Mike Vorisek at CASH 814-683-5900 Emily Borcz of DCNR Pymatuning State Park at 724-932-3971 or Brian Pilarcik of the Crawford County Conservation District at 814-763-5269 for more information.

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[Posted: November 4, 2019]

11/11/2019