kshrack87
Registered: October 2009
City/Town/Province: Rogers
Posts: 1
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Apprentice Ecologist Initiative
Six years ago, our family signed on to one of the most wonderful and beneficial projects humans can do to help save our Earth. The project started off with my brother and his desire to keep America beautiful. He has gone off to college and I have followed in his footsteps to continue our dream to keep America alive and beautiful. We are the proud sponsor of an Adopt-A-Highway. “Our” two-mile stretch of highway borders a majestic county park, which is used all year long by: horseback riders, snowmobile riders, hikers, researchers, families along with the many animals and critters that reside there. “Our” little country road lies between weeds, a few homes, farmland, forest, and a large portion has steep banks that lead to a small creek that flows with and under the roadway. Wildlife of all kinds have been spotted while cleaning “our” road: coyotes, deer, wild turkeys, pheasants, dogs, toads, snakes, horses, raccoons and owls. We have nicknamed “our” road, Wood Tick Lane, as during our spring clean, we are simply covered in wood ticks, but well worth it. Of course, precautionary measures are taken. It is with great honor that I can call upon my family and without hesitation, they are there, taking on our cause. Hours and sometimes days, in the rain and hot sun, the four of us have momentum to get our job done. There is nothing better than to look back on the two-mile stretch, both sides of the highway, and see the mounds of discarded junk and large white trash bags lining its shoulders that we collected, knowing that “our” road was once again clean and this part of our environment healthy. It is amazing what is found while cleaning a road. Everything from cigarette butts and having to pick them up one by one, liquor bottles, beer cans, used diapers, needles, computers, mattresses, and other items.
Our planet, our home, and our environment rely on us to keep it clean. Mother Nature can only do so much. What a shame to drive down an interstate highway and see it completely littered with old tires, debris that has fallen off trailers, and garbage of all sorts and kinds. It is completely up to us as humans to take care of our environment and for me, along with my family, it is my/our promise to the Earth and to the wildlife that live in that area to maintain a healthy ecosystem. Our community has taken notice of our hard work by stopping their cars, their bikes, or while on horseback, in appreciation, thanking us for our service as we are out there working. We know the animals are safer because the hazards, such as those plastic 6-pack holders for beer or soda pop holders, are eliminated.
I have taken pride in this responsibility of Adopt-A-Highway and know that each time we drive down “our” road, a sense of pride and accomplishment comes into my heart. I also belong to other groups within my community and school that are owners of Adopt-A-Highway and volunteer with those groups also to help keep America beautiful, healthy and clean. This is not just a phase that will last during my middle and high school years, but a lifelong journey that I forever will partake, holding deep and true to my heart. Use the gifts that we have been given to create a better world.
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