Many thanks to the Scarborough Town Council for declaring May 14 Spring Cleaning Day for the Scarborough Marsh and beaches. Many thanks to all the organizations which joined forces to engage volunteers, and to the site coordinators who made this effort possible. And most especially – thank you to the many volunteers who spent their Saturday morning picking up trash from the beaches, marsh and roadsides. These volunteers donated their time to collect garbage that should never have been there in the first place!
Scarborough’s first town-wide Spring Cleaning Day for the Marsh and Beaches was a success. One volunteer commented after the cleanup: “You can almost feel the marsh breathe easier!”
I’ve collected comments from a number of people who took part and helped organize the cleanup.
Pine Point – Lynn Cleary
“We had four troops of Girl Scouts helping clean the beach and although there was lots of trash, it seemed a bit cleaner than last year. This is the third year we’ve cleaned up this area and this was the best-we had more than 60 volunteers. Ross Road was just disgusting. We found, among much other trash, paint cans, a refrigerator door, and a drug-testing kit. We could use some more adults to help clean Route I next year.”
Pine Point – Bill Gillis
“We had a very large pile of trash on Route 1 and at the Fire Barn in Pine Point. The Nature Center had a sizeable collection thanks to Bruce Thurlow. We even made an attempt to clean up Ross Road which is being used as a dumping site for those who don’t want to pay the dump fees. We plan to do it all again in September or October.”
Route 1 – C.D. Armstrong
“There was more trash this year than I recall over the four years I have been participating. In order of quantity: food containers, cigarette trash, construction debris. We could use more adults helping clean up along Route 1 in the future.”
Eastern Trail – Tom Daley
Trash was light on most of the Eastern Trail, so some workers moved to help out the Route 1 marsh clean-up crew. There was a lot of trash on the shoulders of Route 1 and in the marsh. I believe a certain amount stemmed from the construction that was done there last summer. That area could be cleaned more often than once a year. It was time well spent.
Higgins Beach – John Veltri
The volunteers did a great job. I was surprised by the amount of stuff this group picked up. I was happy that Pete brought additional large bags as we would not have had enough. The following made up the “crew”: Whitney Chamberlain, Allie Solender, Jennifer Drocher, Sarah Weeks, Linda Brookes, Pete Slovinsky, Rachel Stellmadi, Susan Thompson, Saerim Park, James Everhart, Bryn Carlson, Nadine Cote and Mike Jefferds who brought the Bear Scouts; Wyatt Disney, Cole Disney, Justin Reynolds, Connor Jefferds, Kaitlyn Reynolds, Wade Disney, Emily Jefferds and John Reynolds.
Ferry Beach – Jim Farr
“There were 14 volunteers at Ferry Beach ranging in age from 4 to 87. The Daisy Scouts were there as well as two high school students, Liz McCarthy and Amy Li, who walked the whole of Ferry Beach. I was surprised at how little trash there was so the cleanup went relatively quickly.”
Shellfish Commission – Peter Angis
The clamdiggers have been cleaning up the marsh for twenty years. This year they took boats into the marsh and cleaned up around Bayley’s Lobster Pound, Jones Creek, both sides of the railroad tracks, and alongside the Nature Center. “We always find plenty of trash, this year tires, a dishwasher, as well as beer cans, bottles and plastic six-pack rings, cigarette packages, coffee cups and stryrofoam containers that float up the river. We keep finding the same things over and over again. I wish people would dispose of them properly.” Fifteen commercial clamdiggers took part this year: Patrick Looby, James DiPeitro, Howard Bamforth, Chuck Maynard, Michael Lemelin, Brian Rule, Paul Bayley, Ed Blanchard, Mark Delano, Terry Twomey, Brad Barney, Robert Green, Charles Maynard Sr., Robert Gary Willette, Steve Snow and Peter Angis.
Nonesuch Marsh – Paul Austin
A solo effort along only 800 feet of Black Point Road on the marsh produced four large garbage bags of trash, including a boat cushion, vinyl siding, wiper blades, snowbrush and scraper. “The majority of trash consisted of fast-food wrappers, glass bottles, and construction trash. There are still many thousands of cigarette butts waiting to be picked up. It made me angry to be picking up trash that people should have taken home and put in their own garbage.”
Pine Point Road from the Eastern Trail to Dunstan – Bruce Thurlow
Bruce was joined by a high school student from the ECOS environmental club and he found the roadway section was more littered than other years. “It was absolutely a mess. We found a brake lining, a billion cigarette butts, juice boxes, plastic strapping, beer cans and broken beer bottles. There were many fast food containers. As we finished the clean up I commented to Bill Gillis that you could almost feel the marsh breathe easier.”
This year’s Spring Cleaning Day was initiated by the Pine Point Association and was supported by the Audubon Society; Boy Scouts; the Eastern Trail Association; ECOS (Environmental Club of Scarborough High School); Friends of Scarborough Marsh; Girl Scouts of Kennebec Council; Higgins Beach Association; Scarborough Community Chamber; Scarborough Conservation Commission; Scarborough Land Conservation Trust; Scarborough Shellfish Commission; the Surfriders Foundation, and the Public Works Department of the Town of Scarborough.
In addition, many thanks to the Millbrook Motel, B-Fit, Pratt-Abbott, and A Capello, which advertised the clean up on their outdoor signs. Thanks also to Foley’s Bakery which provided pastries for volunteers at the Pine Point Fire Station.
There were many hundreds of hours donated on and before May 14 to spring clean Scarborough’s marsh and beaches. Unfortunately it’s clear that more people than ever are using Scarborough’s roadways as their ashtray and garbage can. To those of you who feel free to flick your cigarette out the window or let fly your soda can or container from a fast-food restaurant I say, THINK FIRST and then volunteer for the next cleanup and see how it feels to pick up someone else’s garbage.
With sincerity and much appreciation to those who did the hard work.
Susan DeWitt Wilder
Scarborough
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