We are not your typical watershed association, we have taken a very aggressive approach to cleaning up our creeks, we realized early on that monthly cleanups would not be effective to get our creeks back to their natural state, so we go out almost every weekend year round.
We remove everything no matter how larger or labor intensive from a 300 gallon fuel tank to a plastic bag, we work on average 2 miles of creek at a time and we keep going over that section till it's clean, after that we move on to the next 2 miles.
To date we have covered 44 miles of the East Branch of the Conococheague Creek removing well over 36,500lbs of trash, this number is continuously going up as we continue to push further down stream while back tracking to maintain some of the problem areas.
We are constantly working on new processes to remove large items from our creeks, getting better equipment for the job, and finding companies like BCM Payroll Services to sponsor us.
BCM Payroll Services went above and beyond by investing $20,000 of the $23,000 need to purchase the Argo and trailer "pictured on the right" while we have many supporters BCM Payroll Services is our biggest contributor by far.
Thanks to BCM Payroll Services we now have the Argo which is the least invasive machine you can get to do the work we do, while it looks like a tank it's really not, all those balloon tires disperse the weight of the machine so it has very little surface pressure or impact on the creek bed, 1.6lbs of pressure per Square inch to be exact and our footstep produces about 10lbs of pressure per square inch.
This machine will take a lot of the physical labor out of the work we do, this is truly a game changer for us.
we will no longer have to haul a winch and battery with us, the machine has one so its hook up and go, we no longer have to drag loaded boats through shallow waters, on areas that we just need to do a quick touchup with no large items we can now move through them quickly, and most important if someone gets hurt this machine can get them down the creek so they can get the medical attention they need.
BCM Payroll Service has provided us with the funding for this machine that will make our work safer and more productive at the same time.
The ultimate goal for CCP is to organize satellite groups around the county to maintain sections of creek we have cleaned, with these groups we can maintain problem areas around the county, this will stop the trash from high traffic areas from spreading miles downstream.
We will provide these groups with the boats and tools needed to do the job, at the end we will pickup the collected trash and dispose of it, large bulky items these groups may find will be marked and noted so a more specialized group can come through and remove them at a later date.
In time we will grow CCP to the point that we can cover and maintain all the creeks in Franklin County, this will be done creek by creek to start, the first pass on a new section of creek is usually pretty brutal, we average over 1000lbs of trash per mile, once the first run is complete it will be much easier to maintain at that point.
Learning about the native wildlife that lives in and around the creeks.
Courses for novice and advanced paddlers. by a certified instructor.
Providing a canoe rental service to the public and a loan out program for people that volunteer and help out CCP during the cleanups.
Your support and contributions enable us to meet our goals and improve the conditions in our creeks.
Checks can be made out to "Creek Cleanup Project" and mailed to:
Creek Cleanup Project
4499 Valley Cir
Fayetteville Pa 17222