Volunteers spruce up Raritan River
Over the weekend, more than 1,300 volunteers picked up litter in and along the Raritan River in honor of Earth Day. One of them was Daniel Greene, a Rutgers student, above.
The Raritan is the 14th most polluted waterway in the nation, according to NJPIRG — well deserving of the TLC it received.
All photos are by Mark Dye and used with permission.
Volunteers bag up trash along the tow path.
Christopher Grabowski collects trash.
Daniel Greene empties water from a bag he fished from the canal.
Christine Leary of Iselin tidies the tow path.
Laura Grabowski bags some trash.
Daniel Greene walks down a trail during the cleanup.
April 22nd, 2009 at 10:22 pm
Next thing is to keep the 100-fold increase in deer in the past 100 years from devouring all the native plants and tree saplings. Picking up trash is excellent, but the riverbanks are dying because of deer devastation, and once the mature trees reach their life span in another 20 or 30 years, there will be nothing but invasive plants, and no wildlife habitat, no healthy soil, no natural buffer against pests and human disease.