Scout Troops Clean up Perkiomen Watershed Conservancy for Earth Day

Name: Boy Scout Troop 31 of Old Zionsville and Brownie Troop 6788 of Macungie 

Accomplishment: These scout troops worked together to clean up the area along the Molasses Creek in the Perkiomen Watershed Conservancy on April 16 as part of Pennsylvania’s Earth Day activities. 

Key to Awesomeness: Under gray skies, with the threat of rain looming in the air, these youths gathered together to clean up garbage and debris left by others at the Wildlife Sanctuary along the Molasses Creek near Schwenksville.

They trudged through the wet, swampy area picking up trash along the water and roadside. The scouts found lots of bottles, paper, and other trash. “This is disgusting,” said one young girl as she picked up a wet, soggy bag.

“People are really messy,” said another girl. Others agreed with her, as they continued picking up along Church Road.

Several interesting items were found by the group. One girl found a tire still on its rim. She and her dad rolled it up the hill toward the collection pile. Another found a fairly large piece of coal, which her mom was considering keeping as a Christmas joke. 

Later, the boys found a 40-ounce bottle of beer, still sealed – never opened. The aroma of beer was in the air as a dad opened it up and poured it out, throwing the empty bottle into the collection bag. 

Mallory Burns plans to take her discovery to school to “to show the kids and the teacher.” She found the skeletal remains of a deer’s backbone, fully intact. 

John Oetting, a leader of Troop 31, was pleasantly surprised at the amount of trash they cleaned up this year – it was much less than past years. “Maybe people are cleaning up [after themselves],” he said.

All gloves and bags used for the clean up were supplied by PennDot.