Lehigh River (27-May-2015)

Yet another hot day. The rain came about an hour too late. It would have been really nice if it started while I was out there. I started in Walnutport and walked the canal path towards Lehigh Gap. There wasn't much trash on the trail and the little bit I did see in the canal needed a boat to get to it. Finally took a path down to the river and still not much trash at all. I have to say it was actually kind of nice.

This section had some cans, they had clearly been there for some time. When I got up closer to Lehigh Gap I followed the remnants of an old dam back to the canal path. The majority of the plastics in the top photo came from the old dam. In total I only collected a little less than a full bag of plastics, a handful of cans and a bucket. I will be reusing the bucket, no holes in the bottom. So not much today, but still something. 

Please let me know if you know of any areas in need of a good cleaning. Searching out places takes a good amount of time and days like today do not yield much in the way of taking things out. Thank you for reading. Here's Penny on what is left of the old dam. 

Lehigh River (23-May-2015)

I did get out this past Saturday, but I got busy with the holiday weekend so I haven't posted. I took Penny along with me to the Trichler's Bridge access on the Lehigh. We had been there earlier this year collecting cans and I knew there were some spots with a bit of plastic. It was hot and there were a lot of people out on the rails to trails path, that made it very interesting on the way out.

This was supposed to be a before and after of one of the flood piles I picked through. Didn't line it up right and Penny didn't want to move out of the way. Filled that entire bag of plastics in no more than a 15 by 15 foot area.

This was the best find of the day. I imagined him cheering just because someone finally found him and removed him from a place he didn't belong. 

The way back was pretty bad. It was hot. I had the two bags in one hand, Penny's leash in the other. There were a lot of bikes on the trail and Penny does not like bikes. So, just about every two minutes I had to put the bags down and step off the trail with Penny as she barked ferociously at the passers by. It took forever to make it back to the car. I have decided that weekends and holidays are now a no go for trash collecting. At least in frequently visited areas. 

I did get out today, but only stuffed my backpack full of cans. I did a roadside pick-up in a state park. There isn't much to photograph and I didn't really get all that much today. I am thinking about another riverside clean up tomorrow. Penny will probably stay home.

Lehigh River (22-May-2015)

Spent some time down by the Lehigh this morning. I walked a small stretch near Little Gap in Palmerton. I focused on plastics and ended up with the two full bags above. I did get some cans too, but not many. This area is in a bend in the river so I did expect to find deposits of trash from previous floods, but I did not expect to collect this much. I set out with only one bag and had to return to the car to get another.

This is what I refer to as a river beer. Unopened often really stirred up by the river and ready to pop. Oddly this is exactly how I found it and was not the only river beer I found this morning. If you ever find one yourself, please don't drink it. But, if you do, let me know how that goes.

Before and after of one tiny area. I feel bad leaving the foot wear behind. I really wish I had a way of disposing of non-recyclables. 

Another before and after. Since there is so much on the river banks I think I am going to try a different section every other day. These areas matter because the trash only will go down stream from the point where it sits now. Most of the bottles are still capped and buoyant, so the next flood in the area will just take them further down river, with the potential to make it to the ocean.

Find of the day. Not very interesting, but I have never found one before.

Gouldsboro State Park

I took a trip today to visit some state parks I have never been to. Gouldsboro was my second stop and I took the longest hike of the day there. For the most part the park was clean. Most of the trash was along a railroad track I ended up on.

In total I didn't pick up all that much today.

I do think though, that every little bit removed makes a difference.

Do people just associate holes in trees and in the ground with garbage cans? I find a lot of trash tucked away in them. Seriously, if you are going to litter, don't try to hide it. Just throw it in the middle of the trail. It would make it easier for others to find and pick up. 

Find of the day. Mid 90s Gatorade bottle. I don't even remember them in glass bottles.  

I would like to thank Gouldsboro State Park for offering a recycling alternative to disposing of items in the park. They have multiple receptacles around, something that a lot of our state parks should, but do not have.

Boulder Field

Yesterday some posts came up on social media about new vandalism of the Boulder Field at Hickory Run State Park. I then saw it on the local news. So, today I went to check it out to see how bad it really was. As far back as I can remember there have been little scribbles of names, it used to be hardly noticeable. Now its everywhere and in bright colors. People do not come to these areas to read names or misspelled slogans. They come to enjoy the site of a marvel of nature.

Hickory Run is looking to find the individuals who did the most recent vandalism. Any chance you know them? If so please contact the main office of Hickory Run by calling 570-443-0400. I don't think friends of these people will be reading this blog, but it's worth a shot.

Just about the only nice thing about the Boulder Field was the lack of trash. This was all that I found. I think the garbage might be regularly cleaned up by people here though.

This was especially disappointing to me. As is dated it is not part of the new vandalism, but from the looks of it, it is not just kids that are tagging the rocks. I get that kids don't comprehend that they are ruining a public space for everyone, but parents doing it too. None of it is right, but I feel this is worse.

More of the same. Apparently writing your name on one rock in pink isn't enough.

This is the worst slogan I will post. No one needs to see this, especially those who are overweight and want to enjoy their day at the park.

The Boulder Field is still a pretty majestical place, but by leaving things behind individuals have taken a bit of its greatness away. 

Update

I am still going out every day and cleaning up the trash I find along trailsides. I have been averaging a back pack a hike of plastic bottles and aluminum cans. While I am doing this I am also collecting photos for a travel blog I have started up again,  http://ttnortheastpa.blogspot.com. If you live in Eastern PA or are just passing through, you may be interested in that one as well. 

The larger projects are on hold for right now. As I have mentioned in a previous post I have to wait until June 8th to start a project I really want to get done. Dumpsters are not available until that date. As for Bake Oven Knob I will be completing that project in Late June. I have a one day window when the Game Commission, along with multiple volunteer groups, will be removing all of the graffiti from the rocks. This means there will be no chance of items falling down on me from the top.

This week I will be getting out either on some local lakes or along the Lehigh River doing shore clean ups. If I end up at the river let me know if you need sunglasses. I already have over 100 pairs I have collected on the banks and there always seems to be new ones. If you have any specific sites in Eastern PA you would like to see cleaned up, let me know the location and I will do what I can to take out the trash.

I will leave you today with this hatchling Common Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina) that I came across yesterday. It is always astonishing what you can see when your just out collecting trash.

The Northampton County Junior Conservation School

Today's post is a little bit different, but it has everything to do with the spirit of this blog. If you have a child, relative or know someone who does that is between the ages of 14 to 17, I ask you to read all the way through this post.

So, what is the Northampton County Junior Conservation School? NCJCS is a one week long residential summer camp for ages 14 through 17. The week is filled with field trips which include but are not limited to, hiking on the Appalachian Trail, learning canoeing skills on a lake with proper rescue techniques, canoeing down one of two large rivers in the area, touring a landfill and visiting a gun range where students learn to properly handle and shoot five types of fire arms. While out in the field there are a multitude of lectures that focus on hands on learning. The students don't just see photos in a book, they are taken to different environments and the components of which are explained. I was a student in 2000 and helped for over ten years as a volunteer. It truly is an amazing and fun program. This years session will be running from July 12th through the 19th (2015).

The hike on the Appalachian Trail takes the students into the heart of an area devastated years ago by the deposition of heavy metal, due to a zinc smelting operation. Not only do they learn about the problems that caused it, but also the solutions that are being carried out today.

A canoe over canoe rescue doesn't look easy, but all of the students get the hang of it in an afternoon.

Now not every student was able to hold this Luna Moth, but the year this was taken every one got to see one right there in front of them. There is generally a multitude of wildlife that is seen throughout the week and experts who know how to teach identification are always on hand.

This year the canoe trip was on the Delaware, sometimes it is on the Lehigh and some years like last the rivers are too high or low to be safe. So, the students still get time on the water, but a slow moving non-flooded or dried up body of water. The river trip is my favorite and it is the main aspect of this camp that fits in with my blog. On the average years when the rivers are able to be ran, students gather and remove over 2 tons of trash. The local landfill that is visited actually picks up the trash at the end point and lets the camp know how much in weight they collect. I will be on the river with them this year and you better believe I will be a top competitor against the students for the most trash taken off the river by one boat!

There are stops on the river like this one. Here the kids are learning about macroinvertebrates and soon after the educator was done speaking they were sent into the river with nets and other collecting devices to find and identify them.

So, this is a bad year, the rivers were deemed unsafe. A day on Long Pond instead. I kind of wish I was there right now actually.

If you have or know kids in the right age range, think about it. You can learn more or sign up a student at ncjcs.org. I would also like to add, the full cost of the week is only $250. If you are interested, but do not have the money to spend, contact NCJCS anyway, they will do their best to find the student a sponsor bringing the fee down to just $75. I am ending this post with a Common Map Turtle found during one of the years I was a volunteer.

Firetower Road

This is a site that I have known about for over a year and it is off of a path that I take Penny hiking on regularly. I am happy to say that next month I will be cleaning it up. This morning I received approval from a local park to use their dumpsters for disposal. The park is expecting high attendance in the next couple weeks, so I have to wait until after June 8th to start this project. I did clean up a little bit on a lakeside this morning, but nothing to really post about. Tomorrow I will try to get a little more done.

Silver Creek Party Site (14-May-2015)

I am not going to have large projects every day and today was a pretty small one. I stumbled across this site couple weeks ago with a friend out birding. I made a mental note about it and decided today would be as good a day to get it done as any. This was along a small stream called Silver Creek in Schuylkill County. In total a removed one grocery bag full of non-recyclables and filled my backpack with cans and bottles. There are two chairs and the bucket in the photo above that I had to leave, I don't have a way of disposing of large amounts of non-recyclables. If anyone is interested in the chairs let me know and I will go back and retrieve them. I am not sure if this site is on Gamelands or DCNR forestry land. There are signs for both in the area.

As you can see in the bottom left corner, my dog Penny wanted everyone to know she was there too and waited patiently while I cleaned it up.

Bake Oven Knob: Recycling Day 2

Well, I didn't have as much to take to the recycling bins today, but five more bags is something. In total 18 bags of plastics, 1.5 bags of crushed aluminum cans, a trash can full of non-recyclables and three coolers filled with more non-recyclables. On Tuesday the last day I was up there the trashcan full of garbage was removed from the site. All of the other trash piled up in the corner of the parking lot was still there. I am thinking the trash can was removed by the Game Commission so that people do not see that area as an acceptable place to throw trash. I just wish whoever took it would have removed everything.

Bake Oven Knob: Solutions

Cleaning an area up in most cases isn’t enough. It really is an uphill struggle if we want to take an area like Bake Oven Knob and try to restore it to as close to its natural state as possible and at the same time allow the general public access. It is hard to be optimistic with things that I have seen in the past week, but I do believe it is feasible. 

Law enforcement is key and currently it is there at this location. Citations are handed out on a regular basis at this site during the summer. The problem seems to be that those who come to the knob are tourists from a variety of different places. If it were locals, the word would get around that the Wildlife Conservation Officer is handing out tickets and the problem would subside at least for a little while.

Signs are a nice idea and most of the time they are up. They do not say enough or the right thing and are not big enough for people to read. Have you ever seen or read a gamelands rules and regulations sign? You just about need a magnifying glass to read it. I think signs would work, but they need to be two things, large and simple. Have you ever passed a factory with a sign out front that gave a number and read: Days Since an Accident? I think a large sign like that might work in this case. It could give a number and read: Citations Given this Week for Littering. Change the number daily and make it high enough that people think the area is constantly monitored. I did forget the problem with signs and why they need to be large. Small signs are ripped down and become more of the problem. 

How about technology? You can buy camera traps now that instantly send photos to your phone when they go off. This would not be useful for the bottle thrower, but would allow any parties to be busted. It would also cut down on site time for the WCOs, if they can see what is going on at the site they don’t have to sit around and wait there. I know people that do want gates put up and the parking areas restricted. Before I started I didn’t agree with this. Now I do. What this would mean is that there would be no easy access to the Knob. Those interested in going there still would be allowed, but you would have to earn it by hiking in from another location. Special interest groups, like those who do raptor watches, could be granted keys and the gates could be open at certain times of year when game is in season. 

If these types of ideas above are not considered or implemented the problem will persist. If it does, which I am sure it will, catchments at the bottom should be considered. There is enough loose large rock and cut trees in the main slide to make these. The bottom of any cliff is not a stable environment, but at the Knob currently it is very fluid. As a result of the amount of items garbage, rocks and cut trees thrown off from the top the bottom is ever changing. Catchments would reduce the fluidity, stopping the items thrown from creating slides and producing a greater stability in the lower areas. I am going to stop here. I am really hoping for comments from those of you who read all the way through this. Ideas are great, even the most ridiculous thing might be the one that works.  

This is for hanging in there with my long and wordy post. I took this photo of a juvenile opossum last summer while night fishing.

Bake Oven Knob: Day 8 (12-May-2015)

Due to safety concerns this I am putting on hold the Bake Oven Knob project for now. There are too many people there, even on weekdays, and again today trash was thrown down when I was at the bottom. Most of the trash has been removed though, some of what is not I do not have the ability to get to. If I can't get to it, it basically means climbing gear is needed. There is also trash that I refuse to pick up.

This would be one such piece that I will not go anywhere near. I personally feel it is irresponsible to take a baby to a place like Bake Oven Knob. There is no way to take a stroller up there, the child has to be carried in and there is too great of a chance of falling on the uneven terrain. This is just my opinion. I also think if you did choose to take your child up there, you should take the responsibility of removing it's feces infested diaper from the site. This has been at the top since last Monday, others have cleaned up the top, but they all must feel like me because it hasn't moved. 

I worked my way further down the mountain than I have ventured before. It was interesting that all of these coolers ended up at the same elevation, just spread out. So I now refer to this area as the cooler line. These gave me the option to either take out more spray paint cans or glass bottles. I went with the cans, I still don't feel comfortable taking glass up the mountain. I have piled glass in some protective areas along the mountainside so the don't get crushed when other things come down.

Ever wonder what a soda bottle from the 90's looks like now? Well here's one and it looks basically the same as it did when it was thrown down there. It is missing that hard plastic base. 

Cans really don't degrade much either over the years. Someone did shoot this one at some point, but still about the same as when it was discarded.

Not sure if anyone was informed about this crash. It looked devastating and I don't think there were any survivors. My bags and the coolers were filled by the time I found this, so I had to leave it. I did take pieces of it that I found further up out on a previous day.

You're at Panera sitting, waiting for your food. The electronic coaster in front of you seems like it is calling to you. "Take me, take me" it whispers. So you shove it in your pocket and slowly head for the door. You forgot your food, but you weren't really hungry anyway. A bit of relief comes over you as you sit in your car. You did it. You made it out with the electronic coaster of your dreams. As you turn onto the main road out of the parking lot you see a police car in your rear view mirror. You look down at your beloved coaster now sitting on the passenger seat and think to yourself you betrayed me and because of you they are tracking me. Slowly your foot sinks on the gas peddle, you are taking off and soon there are lights flashing behind you. Driving fast you make a sharp left, then a right and soon with the outrageous moves and speeds you just pulled off the cop is nowhere to be seen and you are on a dirt road leading up a mountain. You think to yourself, I must get rid of the evidence. You pull into a parking lot at the top and you know what you must do. After about a half mile hike in from the car you come to a cliff and fling that item you had to have clear off to never be seen again. Yes, I do come up with little stories for just about every piece of trash I find. I'm weird, I know, but you come up with a better explanation of why I found this there.

Find of the day. A bottle from the future. No clue how it got there, but it is clearly labeled 2105. It looks like it was sent back to warn us about the space octopi. Can you tell I again spent a little too much time out in the heat.

This is looking back on the Knob on my way out. There was a group of kids and a couple with a baby when I reached the top. I watched one of the kids throw a full water bottle off the top and they watched me bring everything I collected up. When they saw that I was coming up a girl from the group said to the rest,  "look we can go down over here." I informed her that the Game Commission patrols the area regularly and unless you have a hunting license they will ticket you if they see you off the trail. What I said is true, but I didn't think they would believe it. As far as I saw none of them climbed down. I then said to them, "Please take all of your trash out with you, it isn't fun removing it from down there and I don't get paid for it." The same girl that wanted to go climbing down the side then said "So you are like a firefighter? you know you're volunteering." I call her a girl, but she was not a child. I would say very late teens and I looked at her and replied "I am nothing like a firefighter, but yes, I am a volunteer." All most all of this group had water bottles and some even had fast food bags. They all said they would take their trash with them. They passed me in the parking lot as I was packing things up. None of them had anything with them. It is one thing to ignorantly litter, I feel it is something else to watch a person clean up garbage, say to them yeah we will take all of our trash out, then just leave it. They disrespected me personally and the environment with that one. I am ending this very long post with a flower. I don't know the species, but it is so much nicer than trash.