Scouts Lead Major Wetlands Cleanup in Burlington, MA
Despite freezing weather, Burlington scouts logged 84 hours cleaning five acres of wetlands, demonstrating the principle of "Leave No Trace."
Scouts and adult leaders from Burlington's Scouting America BSA troop 103 and Pack 105, along with volunteers from Troop 513 in Stoneham, met at the Presbyterian Church in Burlington (335 Cambridge St.) on December 6 and 13 to participate in a cleanup project that demonstrated the Scouting "Leave No Trace" principle in action.
The effort was coordinated among many agencies, with the church's pastor Trina Portillo, staff from the town's Conservation Department, BSA leaders, and even the Recreation Department playing a role.
Despite the frosty weather, frozen ground, and light snow cover, 23 members from both Troops and Arrow of Light Webelos (a Scouting rank for older elementary school kids) spent a rigorous 84 hours during these 2 days performing extensive cleanup of the 5 acres of designated wetlands and green space surrounding the church (reference the blue bordered area in the map below).
The troop scouts and adult leaders used a “police-line” search method to find and remove litter and debris throughout the area.
The volunteers focused initially on the green hashed Wetlands designated area on the map. Debris removed from this area included over 35 hefty bags of trash, over a dozen old tires, car parts, bottles, broken glass, cans, plastic jugs and buckets, rusty oil drums, a shopping cart, a rusty sofa bed frame, an old bench seat from an old car, plastic plant buckets, a free standing toilet seat contraption, lots of scrap construction material, Dunkin' cups & straws, and a lot of items originally intended for the Red Cross Donation Box that did not make it inside.
As shown in the photos below, much of the trash was put into the orange Burlington overflow trash bags (By the way, if you're ever in need of these, the local grocery stores sell them!) and then put curbside for the regular Thursday trash pickup cycles. The larger items were left at the back of the church parking lot for a separate collection on Thursday, December 18, thanks to the generous and creative management support from Burlington Recreation Department Director Brendan Egan, who was able to muster up a dumpster free of charge.
The scouts and adult leaders would like to remind everyone to Leave No Trace when enjoying the outdoors and express thanks to Pastor Trina Portillo, Mr. Mark Vogel, and the Presbyterian Church congregation for opening the church fellowship hall to allow the troop to warm up and enjoy pizza and hot cocoa – the go-to meal of choice for all scouts.
