Local Boy Scouts clean up Mill Creek Park

May 14, 2011 at 12:00a.m.

By SARAH FOOR

After a long winter of snow and water carrying debris and litter around Mill Creek Park, the habitat definitely needs a makeover. It’s a dirty job picking up all that trash, but the scouts of Western Reserve Boy Scout Council didn’t mind helping to clear the park for the Earth Day project on April 30.

Local Boy Scouts have helped clean up the park for the last 29 years, offering over 8,000 volunteers and removing 1,400 bags trash and 600 bags of recyclables since 1982. The clean-up offers troops from Austintown, Canfield, Poland, Boardman, Girard, North Jackson, Youngstown, and Struthers the chance to bring the park back to it’s natural beauty.

“We’re so thankful for this amazing help every April,” shared Ford Nature Center naturalist Carol Vigorito, who helped plan the event. “This is really the time when people start to visit the park for spring, and this clean-up really gives us a fresh new face for the season.”

Each group of scouts were given a different area of the park to clean. Poland’s Pack 44, based out of Poland Presbyterian Church, cleaned the Newport area wetlands during the event.

“We found golf balls, plastic bags and bottles, and even a hubcap while we were working,” said Pack 44’s cubmaster, Jim Pearce. “It’s a shame, because a lot of these things can be recycled but are thrown out a window instead. I think the boys definitely learned a lot today.”

Mike Kupec, who handles public relations for the Western Reserve Council, also appreciates the lessons learned by the scouts involved.

“It’s not a pretty job, but the scouts get to see that one person carelessly throwing something out soon becomes a whole park full of litter. We hope our scouts will always be part of keeping the park beautiful,” Kupec said.