Connoquenessing Creek cleanup needs volunteers
Those who appreciate the beauty and importance of Butler County's waterways can volunteer to help out at Saturday's 10th annual Connoquenessing Creek Cleanup.
The Allegheny Aquatic Alliance will hold two creek cleanups in 2021, on Saturday and again on Sept. 11.
Those who wish to volunteer should arrive at 8 a.m. at the Lick Hill Volunteer Fire Department at 122 McClellan Drive in Butler.
A 10-mile section of the creek in Butler and Oakland townships will be the focus of this year's cleanup events.
Volunteers pulling nonmotorized boats walk the creek as they remove refuse and tires, which are placed into the boats.
Other volunteers meet the crews at designated access points along the creek, where the garbage and tires are removed from the boats, placed into trucks and trailers and hauled to the fire hall.
There, volunteers lay the tires out in rows and place the contents of the trailers in various dumpsters for recycling or discarding.
Lunch and all supplies, such as gloves, shovels, boats, snacks and bottled water, are provided to volunteers, who are welcome to bring hip waders, trucks with trailers, shovels, rope, chains or other items that would be helpful in the cleanup.
During the past nine years, the alliance and its volunteers have removed more than 627,000 pounds of garbage and 7,244 tires from the Connoquenessing Creek.
The creek begins at the Oneida Dam in Oakland Township and ends at the Beaver River near Ellwood City in Beaver County.
In 2000, it was named the second most polluted waterway in the United States, but has recovered significantly since the alliance held its first cleanup a decade ago.
Penna Flame Industries of Zelienople is the premier sponsor of the 2021 cleanups.
No preregistration is required to volunteer. The number of volunteers who participate determines the ultimate success of the cleanup, said Mike Handley, alliance president.
More information is available by searching “Allegheny Aquatic Alliance” on Facebook.
