Local involvement and stewardship are the key to ridding public lands of illegal dumpsites and maintaining these cherished lands for generations to come.
PA CleanWays, primary grant recipient for the first year of the Forest Lands Beautification Program, has been battling littering and illegal dumping statewide for the past ten years, and has achieved great success due to the strength of people working together in their neighborhoods and communities to achieve common goals.
Local Advisory Teams, comprised of interested citizens, groups, and elected and appointed officials, are being formed to help determine long-term solutions to illegal trash dumping in the PA State Forest Lands Beautification Program.
As a statewide organization, PA CleanWays has maintained its "grassroots" effectiveness through local chapters, facilitating local concerns. Local people forming community teams and taking action have proven time and time again to be the most effective way of changing local behavior and addressing the problem in their community. Media is often more interested in covering local stories, leading to increased awareness and changing local behavior. Illegal dumpsites cleaned by community teams, particularly those that receive media coverage, have far less dumping occurring afterwards than sites cleaned by property owners alone. Dumping may recur at the sites cleaned by community teams, but at a greatly reduced rate, and, when a maintenance plan is prepared beforehand, members of the community team are willing to remove subsequent dumps to keep their efforts and their community from being trashed again.
PA CleanWays also looks beyond cleanups to the root of the problem: affordable and convenient disposal, education, improved enforcement, and beautification. To tackle this problem with a successful grassroots approach and long-term vision, the state organization of PA CleanWays proposed the formation of Local Advisory Teams (LATs) in areas not served by PA CleanWays chapters. The teams, just as chapter boards, are comprised of concerned and committed individuals representing property owners, citizens, corporations, media, other organizations and government agencies, educators, and others. The LATs evaluate the problem locally and make recommendations to DCNR and local authorities and decision makers on how to minimize future dumping activity.
Likewise, the PA Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR), administrator of the program, has saved taxpayers millions of dollars through its Conservation Volunteer program. People becoming involved in conservation programs contributed more than 500,000 hours in 1999, and by participating in more than 500 PRIME initiatives implemented throughout state government since 1996, have saved taxpayers more than $525 million.
People from all walks of life have stepped forward to help battle illegal dumping on public lands and to improve state parks and forests. In addition to removing unsightly trash, they have cleared trails, built picnic tables and shelters, planted trees and flowers, and assisted with the development of databases and research.
