HANOVER TOWNSHIP, LUZERNE COUNTY (WBRE/WYOU)— When students from King’s College Environmental Program did their Earth Day cleanup near Hanover Crossings Marsh, they found more than just plastic bottles in the brush.
“We picked up tires, metal pipes, sometimes metal pipes filled with concrete. A lot of different plastics, a lot of different rugs,” explained Alexjandro Martinez Fischer a Kings College Student.
“Basic litters to be expected but there’s TVs, toilets, office chairs. It’s pretty incredible to me that there’s this much. It had to have been started probably decades ago,” added Jesse Lutz, a student at Kings College.
The students joined forces with a local non-profit, North Branch Land Trust, whose goal it is to preserve the health of Pennsylvania’s environment.
As the day went on, the two groups realized just how dangerous mistreating the Earth can be.
“It’s mainly about the animals and making things look nice again. there’s that deer carcass over there that had plastic in its stomach, and things like that kind of don’t sit right with me, and I know a lot of the people here, that’s the reason we’re here,” continued Lutz.
The marsh is home to many animals in the area who require a healthy habitat.
“The healthier we can keep that marsh, the healthier we can keep, you know, the entire community in the area,” said Karley Stasko, Director of Marketing and Development at North Branch Land Trust.
Those who participated in the cleanup understand that efforts like this are an essential first step to a clean environment.
“As this stuff sits there, it breaks down, and the more it breaks down, the harder it is to pick up and the more it breaks down and the harder it is to pick up, the less likely we’re gonna pick it up,” said Fischer.
Members of North Brand Land Trust were happy to have eager students by their side to help tidy up such an important part of the ecosystem.
“They said, ‘Well our environmental group doesn’t have anything going on for Earth Day, can we do a cleanup?’ and We said perfect. We know the exact spot for it. This marsh definitely needed some help so we’re really glad we could get people here,” explained Stasko.
North Brand Land Trust and King’s College students collected over 30 bags of waste to help clean up the beautiful habitat behind me and ultimately the one we all call home.
To learn more about North Branch Land Trust and supporting its mission, check out their website.
