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On Friday, April 10th, citizens from several nearby communities and organizations came together to spend the day picking up litter and beautifying the Hike & Bike trails of Garland’s Rowlett Creek Preserve.
"Rowlett Creek Preserve Greenbelt Trail System [which the City of Garland Parks And Recreation Department is the landowner of] is one of over 20 North Texas trails [more than 170 miles of dirt single track] that were in part built and are maintained by volunteers of Dallas Off-Road Bicycle Association [www.dorba.org]. With almost 16 miles of single track at the RCP trail facility, it is a formable task to keep it in tip top shape. The maintenance needs of a trail as large as RCP requires between 500 and 1000 man hours yearly; last year we had 95 volunteers [many of them DORBA members and RCP Friends Of The Trail [aka FOTT's]] donate more than 910 hours of trail work. Without this annual volunteer effort, it is easy to believe that there would not be this fantastic multi-use trail available to the public."
Volunteers were members of DORBA (Dallas Off Road Bicycle Association), Friends of the Trails, Boy Scout Troop 728 of Richardson, and Girl Scout Troop 2801, also of Richardson. All volunteers are bicycling enthusiasts.
The organization for this cleanup began when 7 year old Elizabeth Carpenter, of Garland, was riding the trail and asked her father “Why is there was all this trash in the woods? Somebody should clean it up”. Elizabeth’s father began exchanging emails with DORBA member, and Rowlett Creek Trail Steward, Jack Sparkes, about coordinating an effort and setting a suitable date for the project. With a date set, postings were placed on local website forums, and emails were sent out to local organizations. Each of the participating organizations has a long standing history of community service, environmental stewardship, and love of the outdoors.
Attendees gathered at the trailhead before going to worksites on the Loop 6 Trail, along Mills Creek. Several log jams on Mills Creek, have trapped debris that has washed into the Preserve, from the storm drains of nearby subdivisions over the past year. The blockage has halted the creek’s natural flow causing the creek to flood during recent rains, and trash to wash over the flood plain. The trash and debris, consisting mostly of plastic bottles and Styrofoam cups, was scattered over several acres and concentrated floating atop the water, in Mills Creek. During the cleanup, Marie Baert, of Plano said: “I don’t think I’ll ever buy bottled water again”. Her son, Thomas Baert said “It was amazing to me how much junk was in the water, but it felt like the right thing to do, to clean it up" “Ditto” says Dr. Dan Carrier, of North Dallas. When asked why he and his son, Joey drove over an hour for the cleanup, Joseph Cote, of Justin replied: “We live in Justin, so we are about 1hr 15 minutes from RCP, (Rowlett Creek Preserve). We participated in the work day because we used to ride RCP quite frequently on Sundays. I remember being disgusted by the trash buildup on Loop 6 and surprised that it was never picked up.
When I saw the work day post on the DORBA Forum, I thought it was a great opportunity to fix a problem with a trail we ride. We also participate in the TMBRA/Bicycles Sportshop Paydirt Program, which awards racers with 60 points in the TMBRA Spring Series for completing 10 hours of trail work. This is the equivalent of a 1st place finish, so it is a big incentive to get involved.” Joey Cote added “The cleanup on Loop 6 was disgusting trail work. It was messy and it stunk, but someone had to clean it up and it bothered me to see when we rode by on the trail.”
The volunteers worked for several hours, filling 40 garbage bags and transporting them to the trailhead for city pickup, before enjoying a bike ride on the trails that they had just helped clean.
Participants for this cleanup were: Jack Sparkes, Trail Steward, of Rowlett, Joseph and Joey Cote, Stephen Carpenter, of Garland, Marvin Hester, Wayne Zaboik, of Garland, Francois, Amy & Philip Lafontaine, Thomas, Marie Ann & Marie Ellen Baert, of Plano, Robert Delcambre of Richardson, Dr. Daniel Carrier of N. Dallas, Tom & Donna Sims, and Mindy Couleur.
A very special “Thank You” to the many anonymous riders who dismounted their bikes, and filled a trash bag before continuing on their ride.
