Employees from the Pennsylvania Power & Light (PPL) Corporation's Environmental Department joined forces with the Delaware Valley High School's Environmental Club and a local resident to remove trash from six sites in the Delaware State Forest on May 2, 2001.
The 25 volunteers donated a total of 120 hours to beautify the following locations: Blooming Grove Trail, Long Pond Swamp Road, Conashaugh Lakes, Cowgill Road, Old Greentown Road, and Bartleson Road, all in Pike County.
Approximately 3.5 tons of scrap were recycled and 3.4 tons of trash were properly disposed. The volunteers gathered up bottles, old oil and gas cans, roofing shingles, tires, appliances, deteriorated furniture, construction and demolition debris, and other trash. The trash was first loaded onto forestry trucks and transported to the Owega Ranger Station, where two roll-off containers were provided by Waste Management of Beach Lake.
The 13 PPL employees drove to the state forest from Allentown to work with the local high school students and their teacher, Sheila Hodges. A local resident assisted and will help monitor the sites to keep them clean. This was the second year of volunteer involvement in the Forest Lands Beautification Program by PPL employees. In 2000, they cleaned the Milford Reservation Tract. The Lake Laura Trail was also cleaned as a pilot site in 2000.
Delaware State Forest is located primarily in Pike County in northeast Pennsylvania, with portions in Monroe, Northampton, and Carbon counties. The forest totals 80,056 acres, lying in the heart of the famous Pocono Mountain Region, and its name is derived from the Delaware River, the watershed for the entire area. The river was named for the Delaware Indians who once inhabited the valley.
Learn more about other illegal dump sites in state forests and parks.
