Earth Day tradition continues

For 27 years, scouts and volunteers have been scouring the environs of Mill Creek Metropolitan Park in recognition of Earth Day.

This year, 24 locations throughout the park will be visited Apr. 24 by 19 different Cub Scout packs, Boy Scout troops, Girl Scout troops and students from Youngstown State University. Units will be coming from Austintown, Boardman, Canfield, Girard, North Jackson, Poland, Struthers and Youngstown to remove the winter build-up of litter and debris that damage the environment.

Leaders will stop by the Ford Nature Education Center on Old Furnace Road to pick up supplies before 9 a.m. and then meet with their units at various locations and work until noon.

Some areas included in the clean-up outside the park are Yellow Creek Park in Struthers, Vickers Nature Preserve and the MetroParks Farm in Canfield and the MetroParks Bikeway running from Canfield through Austintown and North.

Volunteers will receive garbage bags, gloves, bottled water, pencils, certificates and car litter bags donated by local businesses and sponsors.

In the history of the event, 8,400 participants have volunteered over 26,500 hours to clean various areas of the park. In the last nine years, over 1,050 bags of trash and 420 bags of recyclables along with numerous loose items like tires, toys, furniture, wood crates, electronic items and even the proverbial kitchen sink have been removed. Last year was a record year with 506 participants, with less bags of trash but more bags of recyclables.

The clean-up is cosponsored by the Whispering Pines District of the Greater Western Reserve Council, B.S.A. and the Mill Creek Metropolitan Park District.

For information about this year’s clean-up or to have your group, organization, church, school, family or individuals come out and lend a hand, contact the Ford Nature Center Education Center at 330-747-7107 or Mike Kupec at 330-799-1475.