Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
SAM DAVEY, of Ironwood, stands next to a city of Ironwood truck that was filled with debris during the Saturday morning clean-up of the Iron Belle Trail.
By RALPH ANSAMI
Ironwood - Volunteers from both Ironwood and Bessemer united for a Saturday clean-up event on the Iron Belle Trail as part of the worldwide Earth Day celebration.
Around 20 people showed up at Depot Park in Ironwood and got their hands dirty for the trail clean-up and an equal number of people gathered at the Bessemer end of the non-motorized trail.
The volunteers said they were pleased that a day earlier, students from both Ironwood and Bessemer had also participated in a lighter clean-up of the trail. The Iron Belle received a great deal of use Saturday from hikers and bikers on a sunny, 60-degree day.
Two city of Ironwood trucks were filled with debris that ranged from large branches to bags of smaller refuse.
Volunteers said they were surprised to find items such as linoleum and carpeting along some of the more remote sections of the trail.
The fact that vegetation along the trail is still sparse allowed the crews to better attack the litter.
Sam Davey cooked hotdogs and there were other goodies for the participants just before noon at Depot Park.
The city of Ironwood's "Drop Off Day" spring clean-up effort will be held on Saturday, May 6, from 8 to 11 a.m. at the vacant lots on Ayer Street.
All over the world on Saturday, there were thousands of Earth Day events.
It's estimated that more than 1 billion people now participate in Earth Day activities across the planet, making it the largest civic observance in the world.
The first Earth Day was held in 1970, and the Earth Day Network is now the world's largest recruiter of the environmental movement, working with more than 50,000 partners in nearly 195 countries to build what it calls "environmental democracy."
