April 24, 2005
The Tribune Review
Stream cleaning
Volunteers come together to pick up Redstone Creek.
Volunteers ranging in age from 7 to 64 years old gathered in Marshall Park last week with representatives from the Greater Redstone Clearwater Initiative and students from Laurel Highlands High School to clean up trash in Redstone Creek and Coal Lick Run.
The group, clad in orange safety vests, hauled about three dumpsters worth of trash from approximately a half mile of the streams. The group focused on Redstone Creek between the Uniontown Post Office and the county jail, but also cleaned a small section of Coal Lick Run along the Rotary Walk.
Along with about 50 bags of assorted garbage, volunteers pulled 24 tires, four bicycles, five shopping carts, numerous vinyl tarps, a car battery, a microwave, and a toilet from the streams.
The cleanup is part of an ongoing collaboration between the Clearwater Initiative and students at Laurel Highlands to help combat pollution in the Redstone Creek watershed. Kelly Kruper, who teaches biology and chemistry at Laurel Highlands and who also heads the school's Ecology Club, recruits and inspires dozens of
students each time these cleanups take place. This is the first cleanup in which the groups focused on downtown Uniontown.
PennDOT donated trash bags, work gloves, and safety vests for the cleanup and the city of Uniontown hauled away the collected trash.
The Clearwater Initiative and Laurel Highlands usually conduct cleanups twice per year; once in the spring and once in the fall. In addition, the organization is working on plans to implement an "Adopt-A-Stream" program in the Redstone Creek watershed where individuals and groups will adopt a section of stream and conduct cleanups on a regular basis, similar to the "Adopt-A-Highway" program. For more information of to get involved, contact Brian Chalfant at 724-984-7758 or e-mail bchalfant@yahoo.com.
