April is Designated as Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful Month
The
month of April is internationally recognized as Earth Month, with thousands
of groups and individuals celebrating Earth Day every year by planting
trees, bicycling to work, picking up trash, or participating in other
environmentally-friendly activities.
In the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania, April has another important designation. Each year,
Pennsylvania's governors have designated April as Keep Pennsylvania
Beautiful Month (KPB) in recognition of PennDOT's highway beautification
efforts over the last 25 years.
KPB started with
PennDOT's anti-litter efforts and the Adopt-A-Highway program. Last
year, more than 185,000 volunteers helped in PennDOT's "spring
cleaning" along state-maintained highways. Currently over 17,000
miles of state highway have been adopted by volunteer groups around
the Commonwealth. Adopters are required to pick up litter along a two
mile stretch of roadway at least four times a year.
Along with KPB Month,
Governor Edward G. Rendell proclaimed Saturday, April 26, 2003 as Keep
Pennsylvania Beautiful Day. With his proclamation, Rendell encouraged
"all citizens to take part in cleanup activities during this month
and throughout the year and to recognize the efforts of their fellow
Pennsylvanians who are leading the fight to keep the Keystone State
beautiful."
For more information
on Keep Pennsylvania Beautiful Month or the PennDOT Adopt-A-Highway
program, visit www.dot.state.pa.us.
For information
on adopting a non-state maintained road, contact
the Mifflin Chapter office.
