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The Ausable River Association (AsRA) and the Rotary Club of the Au Sable Valley, in partnership with Rotary Club of Lake Placid, One Tree Planted, Lake Champlain Chapter of Trout Unlimited, and Adirondack Riverwalking, are hosting an Ausable River clean-up on Saturday, April 24.
The clean-up is open to all community members who want to restore and protect the beauty of the West and East Branch Ausable River. “In past years, we’ve hosted a river clean-up in September along the Main Stem Ausable River near Carpenter’s Flats,” said Tyler Merriam, Donor Outreach Manager at AsRA. “We’re excited to partner with so many great organizations this year to host a spring event as part of Rotary International’s Great Lakes Watershed Cleanup.”
The clean-up will take place along the roadside in an effort to remove trash built up over the winter. The West Branch portion will cover the roadside from Lake Everest in Wilmington to the Ski Jumps in Lake Placid. The East Branch portion will cover the roadside from the hamlet of Jay to the hamlet of Keene.
“The Great Lakes Watershed Cleanup is not only a local Rotary Club Initiative but includes hundreds of Rotary clubs and thousands of volunteers in the US and Canada,” said Sarah Chase, president of the Rotary Club of the Au Sable Valley. “There is something powerful in knowing you are part of such a large clean-up, while still making a difference in the aesthetics and health of the watershed right in your own backyard.”
Several local municipalities, with support from Rotary, AsRA, and One Tree Planted, will provide supplies, gloves, and safety gear for those who need them. Rotary Club of the Ausable Valley will provide lunch for all volunteers at the end of the clean-up.
The clean-up is also intended to engage the community in protecting and restoring the Ausable River and its watershed. The Ausable River faces many challenges, including climate change, road salt pollution, invasive species, undersized culverts, and bank erosion. Clean-up participants will be improving the health of the river, allowing it to better manage and survive these challenges.
“The beauty and recreation offered by the watershed we live in can only be sustained if we keep the river clean and healthy,” said Chase. “Rotary Club of Au Sable Valley has worked with AsRA in the past to help eradicate invasive species, and we look forward to a continued partnership in protecting our environment and the community that depends on it.”
The clean-up will take place from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on April 24, 2021. Volunteers will meet at the Wilmington Town Beach at Lake Everest. For more information visit the Ausable River Association website: https://www.ausableriver.org/events/earth-month-ausable-river-clean.
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THREE CHEERS for the Ausable River Assoc., our Rotary Clubs, One Tree Planted, Trout Unlimited, and Adirondack Riverwalking for hosting the “Ausable River Cleanup”. This worthy community event, bringing people together for for a good cause, is in the finest tradition of America’s first “Earth Day” on April 22, 1970.
51 years ago, Adirondackers read a public notice in the North Creek News-Enterprise, inviting everyone to come out and celebrate “Earth Day” by cleaning up the unsightly trash despoiling our scenic roadsides in the Town of Johnsburg. The outpouring of community support shown on that first “Earth Day” was amazing! People turned out from every part of the community to help, and I was proud to be one of them.
On that wonderful occasion, local people joined together in a moment of community pride and concern for our nation’s deteriorating natural environment. We didn’t know it, but we were just a tiny part of an estimated twenty million people who turned out to celebrate that first “Earth Day” all over America.
Wouldn’t it be great if we could all forget the things that divide us and recapture that kind of cooperation and community spirit once more? Let’s do it! Let’s work together for our environment, for our communities, for our future generations, for the good of all. That’s what the first “Earth Day” was really all about – and it still is.