Watts
Road Cleaned With Help of Trout Unlimited
On
Saturday, May 4, 2001, very enthusiastic and prepared volunteers got
together to clean up a section of the Little Juniata River below Bellwood
along Watts Road. Trout Unlimited of Blair County initiated the cleanup
effort, contacting the Blair County Chapter.
Representatives
of Trout Unlimited and PA CleanWays met with the landowners who have
been victims of illegal dumping and littering for years. A plan was
discussed, and the property owners were very enthusiastic to help in
whatever way they could.
Trout
Unlimited has plans to do riparian streamside fencing in the area to
reduce the silt buildup in the river, thereby making it a better, more
oxygenated stream to hold trout, which they also have plans to stock.
Those
helping with the cleanup were:
- Trout
Unlimited (planning, volunteers, pickup with winch and a great cook)
-
Antis Township (supplied five municipal trucks, a front-end loader
and two operators)
- Southern
Alleghenies Transfer Station (free tipping fees)
- Nagle’s
Roll-Offs (donated a roll-off for scrap metal)
- Wilt’s
Septic (donated a portable toilet)
- Sheetz
of Bellwood (donated hoagies for the volunteers)
- McFarlands
Rod Shop (supplied a parking/meeting /eating area and beverages for
the volunteers)
- Robert
and Betty Jacobus (supplied parking, food items and accessories, and
will install a locking gate at the entrance to prevent further dumping)
- Blair
County Chapter of PA CleanWays (planning, volunteers and supplies)
What
a success! Removed were a total of 1,581 pounds of trash, 3,600 pounds
of scrap metal, and 5.81 tons of tires from the area, returning it to
its natural state of beauty. A total of 81 volunteer hours went into
the project.
"We
are always surprised by what some determined and enthusiastic volunteers
can accomplish when they put their energy into it," exclaimed David
Thomas, executive director.
