LINESVILLE — Decrepit office furniture, heaps of cigarette butts and old, worn-out tires — lots of tires — were just some of the trashy things taken off the shoreline of Pymatuning Reservoir on Thursday.
Armed with garbage bags and gloves, more than 100 Linesville High School students braved the day’s cold, wet weather to participate in the Crawford County Conservation District’s annual litter sweep at Pymatuning.
Beyond the immediate, tangible accomplishment of removing litter from one of the region’s top tourist spots, the effort also gets its participants thinking both practically and philosophically about what responsible stewardship of the environment means, according to organizers.
In short, by seeing it, touching it and working to remove it, the students “get a good idea of what happens when you leave litter out there,” said project leader Brian Pilarcik, CCCD’s watershed specialist.
“It kind of makes you upset about how people are treating the environment, and
themselves,” said Linesville 11th-grader Aerial Albaugh as she and a friend, 12th-grader Ashley Durovey, walked along a roadside picking up cigarette butts, wrappers, fast-food cups and various other pieces of tossed-away trash.
Pymatuning State Park draws some 3.3 million visitors a year with between 300,000 and 500,000 visiting its spillway, according to the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. Statewide, Pymatuning ranks second only to Erie County’s Presque Isle State Park in visitation.
“The park’s really making strides in litter prevention” by taking approaches such as installing lid-sealed trash cans that reduce fly-away trash, Pilarcik said, but any plan requires the cooperation of the park’s visitors to be successful.
Thursday’s litter sweep was the third annual late-autumn effort hosted by CCCD. Pilarcik said the number of student participants has grown from 50 the first year to 70 the second up to 110 this year. The scope of the project has also grown, he said, and this year included clean-up efforts across most of Pymatuning’s Pennsylvania shoreline.
Along with CCCD, Pymatuning State Park and Linesville High School, partners in the project included the state Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Environmental Protection, Allegheny College’s Creek Connections and the Crawford County Senior Environmental Corps.
Ryan Smith can be reached at 724-6370 or by e-mail at rsmith@meadvilletribune.com.
Local News
Related Photos
Discussion
High schoolers pick up litter at Pymatuning
- Local News
-
-
City leaders not concerned after financial downgrade
During the past five years, Moody’s Investors Service has assigned three different ratings — all within the range of “upper medium grade” to the City of Meadville’s bonds. In 2007, the city was given a rating of A3, the lowest of the trio. In 2010, the city’s bond rating was raised to A1, the highest ranking in the “upper medium” category. Monday, Moody’s gave the city’s $10,000,000 General Obligation Bonds, Series of 2012, which went on the market Monday, the middle rating of A2.
-
Elderly, disabled and their caregivers have tremendous new local resource
The new Crawford County Link isn’t a place, but an information network to help people age 60 and older or those between 18 and 59 with disabilities stay living independently.
-
County's median age rising as population still stable
Crawford Countians are growing older and aging in place.
-
Crawford Central yearlong pay freeze plan fails
Differences over details have derailed a contract featuring a one-year pay freeze for Crawford Central School district teachers, leaving district administrators looking for ways to close an unexpectedly large 2012-13 budget gap.
-
Saegertown singer has date with CMT
A Saegertown man will appear on the Country Music Television (CMT) show “Singing Bee” on June 1 at 8 and 11 p.m.
-
Court ruling means county politicking can continue
A proposed resolution to limit Crawford County employees from serving as a chair or vice chair of a political party can’t be enacted because of a Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling in a Montgomery County case.
-
Officials: Rape suspect kills himself before trial
A Crawford County jail inmate died at an Erie hospital early Saturday morning in the wake of an apparent suicide attempt, according to county officials.
-
Cambridge radio station offers soundtrack of local music scene
Lately, “I’ve been having a heavy-duty highlight on local artists every other hour,” Sam Reese said as he sat at the controls of WXCS 92.9 recently, queuing up the current block of tunes lined up for play.
- NEW LOCAL: Crawford County jail inmate dies at Erie hospital
- NEW LOCAL: Fire destroys Cambridge Springs area barn and dairy herd
- More Local News Headlines
-
City leaders not concerned after financial downgrade
Franciscan Files Tell Stories of Priest Abuse
Wildfire Destroys 2 Homes
Flight Diverted After Suspicious Note
Panel Recommends Against Routine Prostate Test
Remains of Veterans Found in Basement Are Buried
Fired Lingerie Employee Claims Discrimination
Joplin Remembers Deadly Tornado, 1 Year Later
Serial Stabbings Suspect Guilty of Murder
Facebook Shares Continue Negative Slide
8 Hurt in Oklahoma Shooting After NBA Playoff
US Airways: Diverted Flight Has 'Landed Safely'
A Few Odd Business Sparks but Europe Gloomy
Revived Focus on Regulation After JPMorgan Loss
Gerard Butler: the Good, the Bad and the Cannes
At Least 25 Dead in India Train Collision
Raw Video: Private Rocket Blasts Off
Boy to Rescuers: 'Do You Have a Plan?'
Doctors and Devotees Debate Barefoot Running
Blacks Seek to Find Their Own Missing
Houston Museum Unveils $85 Million Dinosaur Hall
