PENNSYLVANIA Officials hope to sign you up for a cleanup

Local leaders say sign-up for some projects is lagging.
& lt;a href=mailto:gwin@vindy.com & gt;By HAROLD GWIN & lt;/a & gt;
and LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR PENNSYLVANIA STAFF
There have been statewide cleanup days on Earth Day for years in Pennsylvania under the "Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful" banner.
The state is pushing for a lot more involvement for the targeted April 24 cleanup date this year. The new effort is called the "Great Pennsylvania Cleanup."
It's still being done in conjunction with Earth Day, which is usually set for April 22, and will focus on removing litter and trash from state roads, parks, riverbanks and open spaces. But for the first time, all state departments and agencies are taking an active role.
Some local arms of government that have always participated in Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful cleanups, however, said the numbers of volunteers signing up for this year's effort are lagging.
"We have about 80 or so people registered so far," said Rich Egger, a ranger at Shenango River Lake in Mercer County and coordinator of the cleanup effort there.
"That's down" from last year, Egger said.
He's not dismayed, however.
People often wait until the last minute to sign up, he said, noting that 200 people participated in the cleanup last year.
Different timing
"We're not getting as many as we normally do," said Ted Krueger of the Mercer County office of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.
He coordinates the local PennDOT Adopt-a-Highway campaign, which has groups, businesses and organizations volunteering to pick up litter year-round on state highways in Mercer County.
The Adopt-a-Highway program is being promoted as part of the Great Pennsylvania Cleanup this year. Krueger said registrations are down about 25 percent so far, although he expects that number to pick up as the cleanup date nears.
Some of those regular groups will be doing their cleanups on days other than April 24, he said.
David Campbell, who is coordinating the general highway cleanup campaign for the Mercer PennDOT office, said he's getting the usual groups signed up for the April 24 effort and that a couple of new groups have come on board.
In Lawrence County, registration for the cleanup is going well, said John Pratt, roadway specialist for the PennDOT office. He said the office has about 100 people signed up so far.
Previous cleanup
The Lawrence County chapter of Pennsylvania Cleanways had its Great Pennsylvania Cleanup on April 3, said Marjorie Snider, executive director.
More than 65 volunteers cleaned an illegal dump on Hawthorne Road in Taylor Township.
They cleaned up about 257 tires, 5 tons of trash and 2 tons of scrap metal, Snider said.
Snider described it as one of the most successful cleanups the group has held. Pupils from the Conservation Club and Natural Science Society at Laurel High School made up most of the volunteers, she said.
Snider said the group intends to have several other cleanups during the year but made an extra effort for the Great Pennsylvania Cleanup.
"We hope the Great Pennsylvania Cleanup will be the most significant and ambitious one-day community cleanup program in Pennsylvania history," said Kathleen A. McGinty, secretary of the department of environmental protection.
People are urged to join current cleanup efforts or to organize their own.
"Our natural beauty is what makes this state so special. We can't let litter and dumping paint an unkind picture of Pennsylvania," said Michael DiBeradinis, secretary of the department of conservation and natural resources.
Members of the Pennsylvania Waste Industries Association have offered free landfill space to dispose of nonrecyclable material collected during the cleanup.
DEP has created a Web site, www.dep.state.pa.us/Earthdaycentral, to assist groups planning local cleanups. It includes a downloadable logo, T-shirt iron-on transfers, posters and even lesson plans for teachers.
The DEP doesn't have a particular cleanup effort scheduled for Mercer County that day, but staff members from its Meadville regional office will be involved in cleanup work around that Crawford County community, a spokeswoman said.
They will join efforts in the downtown business district, a couple of city parks and a stream that runs through town, the spokeswoman said.
& lt;a href=mailto:gwin@vindy.com & gt;gwin@vindy.com & lt;/a & gt; & lt;a href=mailto:cioffi@vindy.com & gt;cioffi@vindy.com & lt;/a & gt;