By Amy Batista, Special Writer
Despite the threat of scattered morning showers, East Windsor Township and Hightstown teamed with the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association for its 10th annual stream cleanup Saturday, April 23.
East Windsor Mayor Janice Mironov said residents are dedicated to cleaning up local parks, streams and waterways, especially young people whom she said are always enthusiastic.
“This is one of our annual community events where people come together and recognize the importance of keeping our waterways clean and running well for all of us,” said the mayor.
East Windsor Township held its annual stream cleanup at Etra Lake Park from 9 to 11 a.m. Saturday. Deputy Mayor Peter Yeager, council members Alan Rosenberg and John Zoller as well as Environmental Board Members, local Boy Scout and Girl Scout troops, and residents were in attendance.
“Etra Lake Park is really a premier place for us in East Windsor,” said Mayor Mironov, adding it is adjacent to several waterways. “It’s really the perfect place, a safe place, for everybody to go out and help clean up. The idea this morning is to go out and pick up litter and trash and any of the things that are sitting around and could get into our waters.”
Mayor Mironov took particular note of the community spirit and pride exhibited by the volunteers.
“It’s kind of fun at the end of the clean up to see the level of items that have been collected,” said the mayor.
She said it is amazing to see how the quantity and the pounds really add up when everybody pitches in.
Michael Pisauro, policy director of the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association, said it is great to work with the town officials and community members on the clean up.
“We have Etra Lake, which follows into the Rocky Brook, and all this litter will someday find its way into those waters,” he said. “Water is the lifeblood of our communities, of our society, so keeping that clean is essential.”
Volunteers from 11 local communities and towns joined with the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association – Plainsboro, Millstone, Cranbury, Hopewell, West Windsor, Hightstown, East Windsor, Franklin, Montgomery, Monroe, and Princeton – to make local rivers, lakes, and streams safer, cleaner, and healthier, according to the organization.
At Etra Lake Park in East Windsor, 57 area volunteers collected 343 pounds of trash and debris. In Hightstown, 22 volunteers removed 150 pounds of trash and debris from Peddie Lake.
“In several locations this year, we heard a strange complaint, that there wasn’t enough trash,” said Erin Strentz, Stream Watch program coordinator in a follow-up email on Monday. “We were lucky to have a wealth of volunteers come out to help us, but it seems that after doing these cleanups year after year, we are working our way out of the stream cleanup business.”
She said that the quantity of trash that volunteers are finding went down quite a bit this year, especially on those large historical dump sites.
“In East Windsor, there were a few tires and a pair of hubcaps, among the usual garbage we find,” she said. “In Hightstown, the vast majority of garbage were cigarette butts. Since 2007, we have pulled out 36 tons of trash and recyclables with 3,000 volunteers.”
Mr. Pisauro said that in pulling trash from our water is important because not only does it provide a pleasant experience, it also provides a healthy habitat for fish, wildlife and plants.
Before sending off volunteers to cleanup, he went off a few rules on what they could pick up and what they should do should they come across certain items. Volunteers were then sent off with bags and gloves and asked to put trash in one bag and recyclables items into another bag. Volunteers were also provided with a free t-shirt.
Hightstown Environmental Commission Chairwoman Barbara Jones said that the stream cleanup is something the commission does each spring and fall.
“We have been partnering with the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed for the past several years,” she said. “The people at the watershed have been extremely supportive of our environmental initiatives and we really enjoy working with them.
She said that each year the commission sent volunteers out into town fanning out from Memorial Park,” she said. “Volunteers clean trash along Bank Street, in Rocky Brook Park, in the neighborhood around Association Park, and up Franklin, Railroad, Mercer, Broad, Stockton, and Main Streets.“
Volunteers from the Environmental Commission, local Girl Scouts and residents were in attendance to participate in the annual cleanup.
