Stream of Volunteers to Remove Trash on Local Watershed Cleanup Day

ClearWater Conservancy and local volunteers will celebrate Earth Day weekend with the 28th annual Watershed Cleanup Day.

Individuals, families and groups can register now to take part in the event, which will be held from 8 a.m. to noon on Saturday, April 20. Registration is open until April 12.

Since 1997, event volunteers have removed more than 6 million pounds of waste from local roads, streams, sinkholes and illegal dumpsites. Volunteers at this year’s event will have the opportunity to work at a variety of sites across Centre County to remove trash that could otherwise end up in local waterways.

“This is an important and worthwhile opportunity to get people to take care of our local watersheds,” Donnan Stoicovy, interim executive director at ClearWater Conservancy, said in a news release. “When we can clean up our local roadsides and waterways, we help all those downstream maintain a healthier environment, too.”

Volunteers can sign up as an individual or a group, and the event is open to all.

Two volunteer options for Watershed Cleanup Day: site coordinator and general volunteer. Site coordinators are needed to help organize volunteers before and during cleanup at more than 50 sites across Centre County. General volunteers work together as a group alongside their site coordinator to clean up each area. Site assignments are made based on group size, ages, and home municipality as well as need for pickup. Many sites are along roads but not major highways.

Watershed Cleanup Day is supported by local businesses and municipalities. The event is led by ClearWater Conservancy in association with the Centre County Recycling & Refuse Authority (CCRRA) and the Spring Creek Watershed Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) partners.

The mission of ClearWater Conservancy is to conserve and restore natural resources through land conservation, water resource stewardship, and environmental outreach across Central Pennsylvania.

For more information and to register, visit www.clearwaterconservancy.org/wcd.