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NWP Global Registry of Apprentice Ecologists - Ferry Park, Rocky Hill, Connecticut, USA

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Ferry Park, Rocky Hill, Connecticut, USA
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nicole029



Registered: February 2007
Posts: 1
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I arrived at the Ferry Park early on a Sunday afternoon. The waterfront area was flooded due to the excessive amounts of rain that we have received this past fall so I decided that the trails running perpendicular to the river would be the best place to start looking for litter.


Equipped with my plastic bags, I started off onto the path. There were many people riding bikes, walking with their dogs, or driving to the off-roading area. As I started picking up the trash, mostly beer cans or soda/water bottles, I was approached by an older woman. She asked me if picking up the litter was my job. I replied that it was not a job, that I just really hated seeing places like this strewn with litter every time I came to the park for a walk. The woman commended me on my job and I continued picking through tree branches and leaves in order to gather the cans.


The area was extremely dry because of the 92 degree weather and the dry dust from the road clung to me, leaving me dusty and dirty after only a few minutes of walking but the shade kept me relatively cool. It upset me that people could so carelessly throw litter into the brush and upset me even more that it took a teenager with shopping bags to clean it up.


After a few hours, I emerged from the woods holding two shopping bags filled with fast food drink cups, water bottles, Styrofoam coffee cups, glass liquor bottles, and beer and soda cans. When I first walked into the paths, I felt awkward to be picking up trash. But in the end, I felt extremely fulfilled for what I had done. I realize that people will continue to litter in that area as it is a popular spot, but now I know what one person can do to make it better.


I will continue to go back to those trails and pick up litter on the weekends because I know that I made a difference, however small it may be. The Ferry Park needs to be kept clean; the trails are dangerously close to the Connecticut River, a fast moving and long body of water that leads to the Long Island sound...and is extremely polluted.


After conducting my own nature cleanup project, I believe that the Apprentice Ecologist Initiative is a wonderful idea. If every person went out and picked up two shopping bags full of trash the world would be a much cleaner place to live.
· Date: March 8, 2007 · Views: 9032 · File size: 27.1kb, 566.9kb · : 1280 x 960 ·
Hours Volunteered: 5
Volunteers: 1
Authors Age & Age Range of Volunteers: 17
Area Restored for Native Wildlife (hectares): 1
Trash Removed/Recycled from Environment (kg): 15
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