Nicodemus Wilderness Project -- Global Registry of Apprentice Ecologists

I started doing community creek clean-ups during the end of my junior year. It was rewarding because I was able to make a small, but necessary difference in my community. After picking up trash around one of my local parks, I felt a great deal of satisfaction and pride not only in myself, but in my community as well. I had gathered a group of motivated individuals to make a difference in my community and it had worked! But I really didn't realize how much these small acts mattered to me until I cleaned up Red Bluff. The Red Bluff is a local attraction in the small town of Columbia, Mississippi. It is a mix of red, purple, orange, and yellow clay that has been exposed by erosion and decaying roads. A forest of trees grows all around the outskirts of the cliffs, a creek cuts through the bottom of the bluff, leading to the Pearl River, and a railroad converges with the creek. It is the perfect spot for sightseeing and hiking. Unfortunately, this beautiful landscape has no supervision by the county, thus, tourists and campers have the freedom to litter the ground with trash. That struck a chord with me because a sight as beautiful as this deserves more respect than the community shows. So, I organized a clean-up among family and friends. We picked up over a dozen bags of trash, including objects like beer bottles, tequila, and broken glass to diapers, shoes and pregnancy tests. And the worst part of the clean up, is that it only took an hour with 12 volunteers to collect that much trash.
Every time my family and I have visited since, I have organized clean ups, adding more volunteers every time. I hope to expand my group to 30 volunteers next time I visit. I have also contacted the mayor of the Columbia, in hopes of making Red Bluff a park that the community could be known for. That way, Red Bluff can stay beautiful and generate more jobs for the local economy. By implementing these clean ups, I hope that I can turn this into something bigger than myself, inspire others to take action in their own communities, and be a role model for future generations.