Spring Stream Clean Up

“Next time I’m going to wear my rubber boots, too, so I can go in the stream!” 

                        Brownie Scout from Troop 2046.

“What a great day!  I’d forgotten how nice it is to be outside.” 

                        Middleridge Brownie parent from Troop 1629.

“I’m so relieved someone showed up!” 

                        Middleridge Clean Up coordinator. 

Typical comments from participants in the 2008 Spring Clean Up.  Twenty-eight ambitious Scouts and their parents, and seven other Middleridge residents, assembled at Middleridge Park on Saturday, March 1, 2008 to make a difference in our neighborhood.  Due to the lack of additional adults, we decided to stick to the woods where young participants would not be too close to traffic and away from the roads and neighborhood entrances.  We hauled out 11 full bags of garbage, a broken child’s bike, a load of heavy old sheet metal that looked like it might have been part of a ventilation system, one used tire, a plastic fence post and 5 fir trees that looked like they had never been inside someone’s home at Christmas. 

To put this volume of trash in perspective, in past years we have collected much more – up to 22 bags.  We are making a difference!  Most of the garbage consisted of empty plastic bottles that held water or soda, along with beer cans and the occasional beer bottle.  The second largest volume, and quite a bit heavier in our bags, was composed of sodden newspapers still in their plastic bags.  The yuckiest item we found, once again, was at least 6 plastic bags containing dog poop that an uninformed neighbor had tossed.   All of these items almost certainly came into the woods from our streets via a storm drain.  If you see trash along the street in front of your house, please pick it up so that it will not end up washed towards the local stream with the next rain.

The item that most surprised us this year was the pile of old Christmas trees we found at the edge of the parking lot in Middleridge Park.  While it might seem “natural” to leave old Christmas trees in the edge of the park woods, they do not belong there and smother the native plants on the forest floor.  Please recycle your old Christmas trees by leaving them for curbside pick up, where they will be made into mulch.  If you help with a commercial Christmas tree sale next year, you should dispose of your unsold trees at the county landfill, not in the park. 

Please thank the following people for helping clean up our parks and streams:

Brownie Troop 1629              Brownie Troop 2046              Brownie Troop 1332

Mary Powell                             Chrissy Rabayda                      Zack Albert

Erin Powell                               Sarah Rabayda             Caroline Albert

Chris Powell                             Debbie Taylor                          Anna Albert

Mike Powell                             Cathy Taylor

Natalie Grandle                        Christopher Taylor                    Boy Scout Troop 1131

Lisa Grandle                             Steve Taylor                             Chris Mayhew

Katie Checkosky                      Lisa Zook                                 Joey Powell

Alan Pachter                             Mahala Wright

Melanie Pachter

Lauren Davis                            Middleridge Residents not affiliated with Scouts

Annette Davis                           Kathy Burrus

Maureen Campbell                   Ray Rosson

Colleen Campbell                     Sarah & William Mayhew

David Bulova                            Claudia & Jerry Reynolds

Josie Bulova                             Danny Clark    

Group Shot:  Participants Move Out!

Solo Shot:  Coordinator Jerry Reynolds consolidates bags at end of clean up in Middleridge Park.

Park Entrance Shot:  More trash at Woodglen Lake