VOLUNTEER STAGES CLEANUPÂ
The esthetics of our walking trails in Timmins are one reason for a new event organized by a Mattagami Region Conservation Authority volunteer. The other is protecting biodiversity.
Jessica Kim has a community cleanup every Wednesday at 5:00pm, on a different trail every week. Anyone is welcome to join in and help pick up litter.
Kim says what happened last week proves that there’s a lot to pick up. The plan was to clean the bridge-to-bridge trail that starts at Participark.
“Within an hour, we had just cleaned up the park,” she says. “We hadn’t even gotten to the trail, just because there was that much garbage on the ground.”
Kim also wants to educate participants about plastic pollution, in terms of the amount and its effects.
“It’s quite frightening, actually how much we have on the ground and how much is getting into our rivers and our forests, stuff that are affecting animals and just the ecosystems in general.”
If it’s raining on Wednesday, the activity is postponed until Thursday. The conservation authority’s Instagram account (mattagamiregionca) keeps all of that updated.