Scouts clean up for Earth Day

April 24, 2016 at 12:04a.m.

YOUNGSTOWN

The combination of early spring and hundreds of dedicated Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts has ensured that bike riders, hikers and other visitors will be treated to a greener and cleaner Mill Creek MetroParks.

“I like cleaning up because it makes the park look good,” said 12-year-old Les Grimes, a member of Boardman-based Boy Scout Troop 54, as he scouted around for trash and debris.

Les and his fellow troop members spent several hours Saturday morning using grabbers, small rakes and other tools to remove and place in trash or recycling bags the usual array of litter and other remnants of winter as they walked along trails that abut Pioneer Pavilion on the South Side.

They also were among an estimated 450 Boy, Girl and Cub Scout members and venturing crews who spread across and beautified many parts of the park during Saturday’s 34th annual Boy Scout Earth Day cleanup.

Areas covered during the three-hour effort included Lake Newport and the surrounding wetlands, Lakes Cohasset and Glacier, the Scholl Recreation Area, Hitchcock Woods, the Slippery Rock Pavilion and Lower Bear’s Den.

The cleanup also was in conjunction with Friday’s Earth Day, which began April 22, 1970, and is credited with spearheading the modern environmental movement.

“It looks like a piece of a glove,” 9-year-old Troop 54 Cub Scout member Beau Park observed as he picked up what appeared to be the remains of nylon fabric.

The boys’ finds included everything from plastic water bottles to fast-food containers and cups to candy wrappers to paper plates. Also retrieved was a small orange container that may once have held fishing hooks and tackle.

Combining his love for the outdoors with a sense of adventure, 14-year-old Colin Kirkpatrick climbed a rather steep hill after having spotted a piece of a plastic bag. Beforehand, Colin, who is Troop 54’s senior-patrol leader, collected a variety of candy and food wrappers as well as a cup from a Chinese restaurant.

On his second foray up a steep embankment, Colin gathered additional water bottles, what looked like a to-go cup from a fast-food eatery and the unidentified orange item, among other things.

Before the Scouts set out on their cleanup project, Dave Chauvin, Troop 54’s Scoutmaster, gave his charges a few instructions. He cautioned them to refrain from picking up broken glass, syringes or any other sharp or potentially harmful items.

The cleanup effort got underway in 1982 mainly as a collaboration between park personnel and Scout troops, recalled Carol Vigorito, Mill Creek MetroParks’ recreation and education manager.

“It was a handful of Scouts, and it mushroomed into something much bigger,” she said.

Vigorito said that in addition to honoring Earth Day, this is a good time of year for the cleanup because trash and debris tend to accumulate during the winter. In addition, conducting such an effort now is easier than doing so when all the leaves are out, she said.

Vigorito also thanked the Mahoning County Green Team and the Great American Clean Up organization for providing the supplies.

During the event’s first year, roughly 80 Scouts cleaned a hillside off Glenwood Avenue on the South Side, ridding the area of about 20 tires, box springs and mattresses and a host of appliances people had dumped, remembered Mike Kupec, Saturday’s Boy Scout cleanup chairman.

“We filled four dump trucks,” he recalled.