EPCAMR will be providing The Nanticoke Conservation Club with $500 to aid in the disposal costs and dumping fees of the trash. Community Aid, a committed partner of EPCAMR’s in the region, has provided $5000 in funds for EPCAMR to support the coordination and management of several cleanups around the coalfields. Several other cleanups are in the planning stages for later this year all the way through the Fall of 2017, including our annual cleanup of Centralia, PA. The City of Nanticoke, the Newport Township Crimewatch, Pennsylvania Environmental Council, NE Office, are all partners in the effort. The area of the cleanup, and along the mining impacted Newport Creek, which runs parallel to the road into the site will be the center point of the cleanup. They will just need to provide us with receipts and a tally of the number of bags and tires collected, number of volunteers and club members in attendance, along with the tonnage report for the two anticipated dumpsters that they will be getting so that we can provide a thorough report to Community Aid in the Fall 2017. EPCAMR has already reached out to our RECLAIM Crew volunteer database as well to see if they are interested in making it to this event and will be present to take some photos of the good work that they all will be doing in the Southern Wyoming Valley and along Newport Creek.

Gary Gronkowski, President, of the The Nanticoke Conservation Club estimates that 40 volunteers will commit at least 4 hours of their time on that Saturday morning to rid the community of the illegal dumping sites, valued at $3780.80, not including the use of the City’s Public Works equipment to transport trash to the dumpsters. “The entire Nanticoke Conservation Club thanks you for the support offered and to your ongoing dedication to our environment”, stated Gary Gronkowski, in his letter of request to EPCAMR for support. Chartered on April 4, 1951, The Nanticoke Conservation Club is an active organization comprised of hunters, fishermen and outdoor enthusiasts. Their goal is to protect, preserve, and manage their area’s wildlife and natural resources.

“Gary Gronkowski and I have been cleaning up trash for over 20 years together across the entire Southern Wyoming Valley. Our daughter’s went to elementary and high school together and played on many sports teams together, where we ended up seeing each other at a lot of events and began sharing our stories of our concern for our local environment, rivers, and streams. Long ago, we decided that we would make a commitment to conducting cleanups anywhere and everywhere that was necessary within our surrounding neighborhoods to rid the area of decades of past dumping on our environment.” recalls Robert Hughes, EPCAMR Executive Director.

“I’m glad that EPCAMR with the support of Community Aid, can provide them with some funds to alleviate the costs of the hauling and dumping fees to remove the trash because it’s a local burden on the communities that we are serving to try and secure funds for these costs. The value of the time and effort that the volunteers put in on any given Saturday are staggering when you compare it to the actual cash that you have to seek and spend on the removal of the trash. Without the conservation-minded people that are members of The Nanticoke Conservation Club, and the other partners that we continue to work with and strengthen our relationships with over time, we would never be able to remove the sheer tonnage, tires, televisions, mattresses, and volume of household littered trash and debris from our coalfield communities. I can’t thank them enough!” exclaimed Robert.

On the same day at the other end of Newport Township, the Newport Township Crimewatch, led by Amy Saraka, there will be a similar cleanup effort going on with additional funds provided by EPCAMR through a small ARIPPA grant from last year that was awarded to them in the amount of $500 to support the cleanup efforts outside of Wanamie, along the Industrial Park (IP) road on abandoned mine lands too. The funds will go towards hauling, proper electronics waste disposal, dumpster, and cleanup supplies  on an abandoned mine land area in Newport Township, Luzerne County, PA where up to 40 tires will be removed and 10-12,000 pounds of illegally dumped trash, discarded furniture, construction waste, and household wastes will be removed, in partnership with Newport Township, , Newport Township Police Department, Nanticoke Conservation Club, and EPCAMR. 50 volunteers are expected to participate with their time value at $4726.00, not including support from the Newport Township Public Works Department. EPCAMR will administer the grant on behalf of the NTCW.

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EPCAMR will encourage our volunteer participants from our new RECLAIM Crew and others to bring us bags of used clothes that we can then add to our bins for additional weight and eventual distribution to the thrift stores around the region run by Community Aid. Potential cleanup sites that we are looking at targeting in 2017 are in the City of Wilkes-Barre (Spring Run), City of Nanticoke (Nanticoke Creek), Sugar Notch Borough (Sugar Notch Run), Newport Township (Newport Creek), Centralia Borough (Centralia-where we have led 3 successful cleanups over the last several years), and possibly, along the Delaware & Lehigh Rail Trail, in partnership with the North Branch Land Trust, who just recently acquired the rail bed from the Earth Conservancy, within the Laurel Run watershed. EPCAMR just recently completed the Laurel Run Coldwater Conservation Plan for the entire watershed and are aware of the illegal dumping along the rail corridor from our assessment of the fishery and surrounding landscapes. EPCAMR has many existing partners in all of the communities already and look forward to working with them again this year, including the City of Wilkes-Barre, City of Nanticoke, Newport Township, Newport Township Community Organization, Newport Township CrimeWatch Organization, Wilkes University, King’s College, Earth Conservancy, Sugar Notch Borough, Luzerne Conservation District, and the North Branch Land Trust, to name a few.

EPCAMR is a Non-Profit Partner with Community Aid and has bins placed throughout the region where donations of gently used clothes, toys, and other items can be dropped off. Jeff Crum, EPCAMR Community Volunteer, and employee from Community Aid, has assisted in finding locations for proper bin placement over the last year several years and has been a tremendous help during our Centralia Cleanups. EPCAMR is constantly looking for additional bin placements with local small businesses or areas where large lots are available. If you are interested in hosting a bin for EPCAMR, and becoming a nonprofit and charitable partner, click here for more information.

By partnering with Community Aid, non-profits agree to allow Community Aid to place a clothing collection bin on their property or other locations visible to the public. Easily recognizable, Community Aid bins are tan and feature three helping hands. The donated clothing in the bins is removed several times each week and sold in Community Aid thrift stores. Based on the weight of the clothing in each bin, the non-profit is awarded with a quarterly cash donation per pound.

In addition, partners receive free clothing vouchers (Care Cards) for the needy in their area, which can be used in one of Community Aid’s thrift stores. Following six months of partnership, the organization is eligible to apply for a grant of up to $5000 during announced grant application periods. Partnerships are also open to local businesses. When a business agrees to place a clothing bin on their property, EPCAMR would encourage that they choose us to receive the quarterly donations from that particular bin. Business partners have found that allowing a Community Aid bin on their property demonstrates their interest in the community while drawing more foot traffic to their business. The partnership between Community Aid and EPCAMR have meant that we have been able to continue to improve the quality of life for individuals and families in our local coalfield communities.

Trash picked up from the Green Trail along the Mocanaqua Loop Trail on the Pinchot State Forest Lands, outside of Lee.

“At some point, EPCAMR, our partners, and our volunteers are going to be able to say that we’ve cleaned up and maintained hundreds of cleaner and greener environmental landscapes throughout the coal region that have been littered for decades until someone decided to care enough to do something about the historic problem. EPCAMR had decided many years ago that we were going to be that “someone” and build the partnerships necessary with other local non-profit organizations, conservation groups, State, County, Local, and Municipal entities to reclaim these abandoned mines and the stream and rail corridors that had become the dumping grounds for far too long!” exclaimed, Robert E. Hughes, EPCAMR Executive Director. “EPCAMR has a 20 year history of reclaiming past mining landscapes and leveraging funds from multiple sources to successfully complete projects like this on the ground with community volunteers. It’s very hard not to get behind an effort in these communities like this when everyone else is behind you, supports your cause and mission, and looks forward to getting out there and getting their hands dirty for the benefit of their own community, their neighbors helping neighors, and for the protection and reclamation of the environment.” emphasized Robert. Planning on these cleanup efforts will begin after the New Year with Staff during their monthly meetings. Stay tuned.

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Robert showing the EPCAMR Staff, Interns, and Film Crew of the many piles around town.

On Tuesday, July 15th, EPCAMR headed out to Centralia to assess the amount of trash and illegal dumping sites in the area for a possible Fall Cleanup around the now-barren town. With volunteers, interns, and one of our partners–  The Pennsylvania Environmental Council, NE Office (PEC) in tow,  the group met up with the Director of  “Centralia: America’s Lost Town” , Joe Sapienza II, recent graduate, and some of his film crew members from Drexel University, for a tour and to get a site assessment of the area– the first step in cleaning up Centralia!

Old Route 61

Our first stop to survey for trash was where the original fire in Centralia started near the Odd Fellows Cemetery. At this location, we found a few old mattresses and a large illegal dump and burn site with piles of litter, as well as, the start of many illegally-dumped auto tires.  Towards the other end of town, off Meyers Street, the crew walked down an abandoned road or  rail line which was once headed towards Mt. Carmel, to find more illegal dumping going on. The abandoned area was strewn with several wood piles, garbage bags full of household items, many more tires, furniture, and even the front bumper of a JEEP. The crew then parked in an empty lot where the famous Coddington’s Gas Station once stood (one of the main areas for tourists to park their cars in Centralia) and walked down along an abandoned road surrounded by culm  banks. Here, we found even more piles of trash scattered throughout the landscape.

The July 15th  site assessment showed that there is a strong need for a future cleanup in Centralia. EPCAMR has gotten approval of the State to move along with the cleanup  project. We are confident that we can accomplish this effort as we have completed hundreds of cleanups for nearly the last two decades and are already making contacts to put the wheels in motion.  During the site assessment, the group ran into at least 12 other tourists in the area. EPCAMR Executive Director, Robert Hughes, had a conversation with a few of the individuals about Centralia and the Fall Cleanup EPCAMR was planning on doing. Several of the tourists were happy to hear about the initiative and were willing to help as future volunteers with EPCAMR. Many folks were also interested in a possible future historical interpretive project EPCAMR was also considering for Centralia. We would love to see small wooden plaques with historical information around Centralia for tourists to read about the town and what happened in 1962 that left it abandoned. A handful of people EPCAMR spoke with were also excited about the idea of adding  picnic tables or benches in Centralia for the tourists that visit this historic site. We hope people interested in Centralia and working with EPCAMR will join us as future volunteers for a Fall Cleanup in Centralia set for October 25th from 9am-4pm with a 10am start and a 9am volunteer registration!

EPCAMR Staff and Joe Sapienza II will be coordinating a Fall 2014 Community Cleanup at the location of PA’s most historic mine fire in the Town of Centralia, PA on Saturday, October 25th. Recent film graduate students Joe Sapienza (Director) and friends from Drexel University, have been working with us to coordinate a cleanup in the Town that is pretty barren right now and isolated from the world, except for a handful (3 families) of residents that remain. We’ll be registering volunteers at 9am near the former Coddington Gas Station, just down the street from the St. Ignatius Cemetery.

We are looking for dozens of volunteers for the cleanup that will help EPCAMR to set the wheels in motion for a possible future historical interpretive project that we’re considering for the Town, if we can get the State behind us. Hear stories from the EPCAMR Executive Director on his internship days with the PA DEP some 20 years ago, as he monitored around the Town for mine gases in one of the Churches and along the coal banks that were on fire in the Buck Mountain Vein. Get a chance to meet the Director of the short film on Centralia that has been just recently released. Hear more on a full length documentary on Centralia that Joe is beginning to work on too.

An IndieGoGo fundraising effort is going to go live to assist us with funds for supplies, refreshments for the volunteers, water, tools, and to assist with paying for dumpsters and some wildflower seeds for the areas that we will be cleaning up. IF YOU DONATE, there are SWAG gifts in return, so please check out the link. EPCAMR is committing $700 towards the effort up front, plus Staff and other resources. http://vimeo.com/104065441

We have permission from one of the property owners (Pagnotti Enterprises) to place a dumpster on their property near the Odd Fellows Cemetery at the one cleanup location and we are actively working on securing permission from Blaschok Coal Company to place a dumpster in another area that can be seen in our Vimeo Cleanup Centralia Project video.

Follow the link on Facebook to join the effort as an EPCAMR Volunteer! https://www.facebook.com/events/628137517302486/?ref=22&source=1

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