Autumn cleanup a sweeping success!

Congratulations to all of our hard working site captains and volunteers for a successful Autumn Beach Sweep! Last weekend's event was our best fall cleanup yet; I estimate 700 people at our 31 sites in 13 municipalities. We cleaned shorelines of the Niagara River, Buffalo River, Scajaquada Creek, Ellicott Creek, Tonawanda Creek, both Cayuga Creeks, Buffalo Creek, and Lakes Erie and Ontario!

Reports are still rolling in, but interesting finds this year include two scooters, a basketball, boomerang, nude photos, hypodermic needles, a large animal skeleton, shopping carts, jug of clay, grinding wheel, zucchini, mittens, roll of duct tape, drug paraphernalia, over 75 spent shotgun shells, golf club, car seat, urine sample, street sign, lotto tickets, and corrugated hose.

At Gratwick Park, where Rick and I cleaned up, we found a broken bat, fishing line, an awful lot of plastic bits and styrofoam, and many (empty) drug baggies. Happily, the interesting wetland plants established during the cleanup of that site a couple of years ago are thriving! We took time to admire the healthy plants and the beautiful butterflies attracted to them as we cleaned.

Thanks so much to everyone who made this event possible. Through your efforts, our shorelines are cleaner, safer and more beautiful than ever!