Fanning out to clean up

Warwick Beacon Online

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

An estimated 150 volunteers including a group from City Year and three Boy Scout troops rallied Saturday for the 10th annual Earth Day cleanup of Buckeye Brook. Groups worked the banks of the brook, along Warwick Pond and sections of Mill Cove as well as Conimicut Point to collect debris ranging from hubcaps to shopping carts. The Knights of Columbus Hall on Sandy Lane served as command central and the place where volunteers reunited after the cleanup for refreshments provided by sponsor businesses. While John Torgan, Save the Bay baykeeper, reported no herring have been seen to date in the brook, he is hopeful of a strong spawning run when water temperatures rise.

FISHING FOR DEBRIS: Clad in hip waders Paul Earnshaw, vice president of the Buckeye Brook Coalition, pulls trash from the brook not far from Old Warwick Avenue bridge. “We’re really going to make a difference today,” Earnshaw said of the cleanup effort. (Warwick Beacon photos)

HE CAN BE MEAN: Peter Naumann of Ocean State Raptors warned spectators not to get too close to the big horned owl he displayed as part of an educational component to the cleanup drive. He and his wife have raised the bird since it was a chick and apparently thrown out of the nest by its parents. The Naumanns believe the parents rejected it because it is blind in one eye.

BY THE HANDFUL: Martin Gomm with Pack 1 Warwick hands off bottles and other trash he found littering the banks of the brook.

SHOPPING FOR TRASH: Volunteers pulled this shopping cart from the waters of Buckeye Brook.

SNIFFING OUT TRASH: Colin Greenwood, right and David Ryan and his dog Clark work the banks of Buckeye Brook near Millcove.

A HANDFUL OF TRASH: Pam Brightman carries debris found near the brook and Old Warwick Ave.

Brothers Ryan, left, and Tyler Knight team up to clean up a section of the brook near Tidwater Drive.