2008 Fall Beach Sweep

Hardworking volunteers from across Western New York partnered with the Buffalo Niagara RIVERKEEPER to participate in the annual Fall Beach Sweep on Saturday morning, September 20, 2008 and helped clean up the shoreline along Scajaquada Creek, Ellicott Creek, Buffalo and Niagara Rivers and many other tributaries.

Cleanup crews picked up trash that included clothing, drinking bottles, shopping carts, mattresses, and car parts. An exciting find was a canine skull at Amherst State Park. The ambitious volunteers went an extra step further by painting over graffiti under the elevated portion of the highway and whacking back weeds that are invading the natural habitat along the creek. 600 Participants from local neighborhoods joined students from McKinley High School, South Park High School Green Team, Houghton College, Canisus College, and Buffalo State College in making a difference in their community.

Following the cleanup, hundreds of participants attended the Volunteer Appreciation party at the American Legion Post 1041 on Amherst Street that was sponsored by the Grant Amherst Business Association and Buffalo Niagara RIVERKEEPER.

The event was made possible by sponsorships from the M & T Charitable Foundation, Teva, Mark Kubiniec and the Grant Amherst Business Association, Commander Tom O’Connell and the Niagara Frontier American Legion Post l041, Wegmans, Tops, Wal Mart, and Target.

July 9th - Doing it in the rain.

Nearly 30 people showed up at The Bailey Peninsula in the rain continuing our efforts at the most beautiful piece of land in South Buffalo. Students from McKinley and South Park met on the bridge and joined forces. We have not been on site for five weeks and it showed. Japanese knotweed encroached on our "retaken" plot. Also, some ......(bad word).....park patron damaged our bench. We repaired it, and placed the roof/table braces. Hopefully, in two weeks the structure will be how we left it, so we can continue progress on it. I think once it is finished, it will get a little more respect from park patrons. The other negative human behavior occuring is cutting the duck bill (all metal-because the wood ones were burnt) tree support wires.

It is impressive to witness teenagers overcome obvious setbacks and persevere and a joy to see the future has capable environmental stewards. Thank you RiverKeeper for keeping winds in my sail during stormy weather.

We will be meeting every other Wednesday until August 20th, RAIN or shine....feel free to join us....after all...it is public space....and voluntary.

All in all, it was a productive day. Check out the entire slideshow by going to The Green Team blog.