State announces cleanup
Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) Secretary John C. Oliver recently announced that nearly four tons of trash and tires recently were removed from an illegal dumpsite in Forbes State Forest, Fayette County, as part of Pennsylvania’s Forest Lands Beautification Program. “The trash at this site degraded the beauty of the Quebec Run Wild Area,” Oliver said. “Trash that had been dumped in this area for almost 20 years was removed from the site by volunteers dedicated to returning this site to its original splendor.”
Local residents, Forbes State Forest personnel and members of the Fayette County chapter of PA CleanWays donated a total of 20 hours to cleaning the site along Skyline Drive in Wharton Township.
The volunteers removed nearly 2.4 tons of trash, including appliances, construction debris and household trash. They also removed 1.6 tons of tires from the site. Burnsworth’s Garage Inc. of Uniontown, Fayette County, provided a winch to pull tires, furniture, appliances and other large items up a steep slope.
“The illegal dumpsite at Skyline Drive has existed since at least 1984,” DCNR Forest Maintenance Supervisor Tom Wiltrout said. “There has been no recent dumping, and we hope to keep it that way now that it is clean. The volunteers did a wonderful job.”
The program was created by the Forest Lands Beautification Act, which provides up to $7.5 million over five years to clean up existing dumps on state forest and park lands by recycling or properly disposing of waste materials. The program is funded by the Municipal Waste Planning, Recycling and Waste Reduction Act (Act 101), administered by the Department of Environmental Protection.
DCNR works in partnership with PA CleanWays to identify dumpsites and to form community volunteer teams to help remove the waste.
About 225 illegal dumpsites have been identified throughout Pennsylvania. To date, 88 sites have been cleaned up through the efforts of more than 735 volunteers. These cleanups have resulted in the removal of more than 1,500 tons of debris – including more than 4,600 tires, 65 tons of scrap metal, construction materials, household trash, furniture and more.
To join a cleanup team or for more information, call the Forest Lands Beautification Program toll-free at 1-877-7PA FOREST (1-877-772-3673) or visit the program website at www.CleanPaForests.org.