Unfazed by the cold and blustery weather on Thursday morning, a group of volunteers combed the Burnt Bridge Creek Trail near Devine Road to rid the greenway of trash and debris.
After a short winter break, Thursday was the first day of cleaning season along the trail for the local walking and exercise club the Vancouver USA Volkssport Club.
At a quick glance the area looked clean, but it didn’t take long to see that some trail users leaving their trash behind.
Within the first few minutes of combing the area around the trailhead parking lot on Devine Road, volunteers found a skateboard and a small makeup bag full of hypodermic needles, as well as the regular mix of broken glass and cigarette butts.
“The good news is, that’s not normally what we encounter,” club president Tom Baltes said of the needles kit.
Baltes describes the Volkssporters as civic minded and regular users of the trail.
The Volkssporters are now in their second year of cleaning 2 miles of the trail on a monthly basis from February to October.
Last year, some of the members noticed graffiti and trash building up along the path.
Baltes said a few members asked the city to put greater emphasis on cleaning and patrolling the trail, and then they realized they could pitch in, too.
Shortly after, they adopted part of the trail in central Vancouver.
“We decided to put action behind our words and not just challenge the city,” Baltes said. “We can’t rely on the city and county to take care of everything in our neighborhoods and parks.”
Club member Doug Davis said they’ve found everything from coats to old mattresses along the path. When the group first started working the trail, it required several hours worth of work to get cleaned up, but cleaning it on a monthly basis has helped keep the trash to a minimum.
The group adopted the stretch of trail under the city of Vancouver’s Adopt-A-Park program. But volunteer coordinator for the city, Hailey Heath, said the program might be better called “Adopt-A-Spot” to better reflect the diversity of more than a dozen spaces volunteer groups have chosen to take care of.
