In observance of Earth Day 2017; the Friends of the Great Western Trails in cooperation with The Illinois Prairie Path not-for-profit corporation (IPPc) has scheduled its annual trail cleanup for Saturday, April 29 rain or shine. The goal this year is to clean all the trails including both sections of the Great Western Trail (GWT) and they are asking for your help. The group wants your help to rollup your sleeves (but wear work gloves) and pick up litter along these trails. Bring friends and family (and garbage bags to fill) on Saturday, April 29, 2017, starting at 9:00am. If you, your family and/or co-workers are interested in helping and help manage a section of the GWT cleanup, please contact Don Kirchenberg via email or call 630-853-7650.
For more info. about the local Great Western Trails go to their website: http://www.friendsofthegreatwesterntrails.com. For more information about the Illinois Prairie Path cleanup info go to their website at www.ipp.org or contact Sue Degnan at suelite97@yahoo.com.
The trails are cleaned year around by volunteers. Your help in keeping the trails clean is appreciated. Please remove all drink containers and snack wrappers you take with you on the trails.
Basic suggestions to follow when picking up trash along the trails.
Thanks for your interest in the trails. We definitely need volunteers along the GWTs all year around. Be careful out there so you can enjoy the trails year around. Here are some basic suggestions to help make the cleanup safer.
1. We suggest that you wear gloves, long sleeve shirts and long pants to protect you from thorny bushes and/or broken glass along the trails.
2. Take a wagon or cart to haul the filled trash bags out to the closest trash can.
3. Please do not leave the filled bags along the trails.
4. If you want to recycle bottles and cans you pick up you’ll have to separate them and take them to your home or local recycling bin. The local authorities and waste pickup companies do not accomodate recycling along the trails. Unless you see a recycling container do not assume it will be recycled.
5. Be careful and if you see something too big or hazardous to pick up. Please advise us of the approximate location like north side of trail 1/4 mile east of the closest cross street. With that information we can get the appropriate authorities with the appropriate equipment to safely remove the items dumped along the trails. Send us an email to frndsgrtwstntrl@aol.com.
Volunteers cleaning up the trails is the essence of the spirit that started the Friends of the Great Western Trails over 10 years ago as an all volunteer group (and we remain unpaid volunteers) without any memberships or big bank accounts like other groups.
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