Nicodemus Wilderness Project -- Global Registry of Apprentice Ecologists

I am Lynn, 18 years old of DeWitt, Iowa, and I would like to pursue a career in conservation. The world we live in has to many non-biodegradable objects in it already. We should at least dispose of them correctly, in order to conserve our earth. That does not mean in ditches along our highways. This needs to stop, but until it does the least we can do is pick up after those who choose to create messes in our ditches. This is why I got involved in the adopt-a-highway program in my community.
We strive to keep our, five mile, portion of Old 61 clean by walking it every spring and fall picking up anything that shouldnâ€™t be there. Our five-mile stretch is in two parts. One from the north side of town to where old and new 61 meet, about a three miles stretch between farm fields and houses. The other is from the south side of town to the Waspinican River. Which is about two miles. The area to the south of town is more marshy and wet, where the portion to the north is higher land.
On Saturday, April 2, 2011, nine fellow community members and myself spent five hours doing roadside cleanup. We picked up everything from candy wrappers to old tires. After words the area was free from all non-biodegradable items, including a large iron rod and lots of pop bottles, which we were able to recycle. Everything else we took to the local landfill to be disposed of properly.
After our work was finished we were very proud of what we accomplished. It is very important to properly dispose of all things that do not decompose because they can harm our environment, pollute our waterways, collect in marshy areas, and ruin wildlife habitat, just to name a few. Most of all it destroys the beauty of our world.
By participating in adopt-a-highway and cleaning up our roadways the community greatly benefited, first of all by making it more attractive to the human eye as people drive into our community and notice our neat roadways. It also benefits our wildlife, maybe not so much the big animals, but the small ones, such as voles and kestrels whose homes are in our ditches. The animals who live in our marshes also benefit, for now there is less pollution in their habitats and they can go on with their lives without those opstikals.
This project has really made a difference in my life and I hope adopt-a-highway can continue to do that for others. I hope it makes people realize how easy it is to just throw trash in a trashcan instead of out the window of a moving vehicle. I plan to continue to participate in adopt-a-highway and other conservation projects in the area, such as Christmas tree recycling. In order to create new fish habitat we put the old live Christmas trees on the ice in the winter and weigh them down so when the ice melts they sink. I also plan to plant trees along an eroding creek bank near my house, not only to hold the soil in place, but also create some habitat for birds and other animals. Planting a tree does not only help the environment, but it changes the world.