Feeling the desire to do something nice for the planet for Earth Day? No, don’t buy it a necktie it never wears them or pick up a gift certificate from the Gap. Instead, get some mud in the treads of your Timberlands.
The Navesink and Swimming rivers could use some help. So the Monmouth University and Brookdale Community College chapters of New Jersey Community Water Watch have organized a cleanup of selected stretches of riverbanks in Red Bank and elsewhere.
A free barbecue follows the event at Poricy Park in Middletown, the same place where volunteers are asked to gather Saturday at 10a.
At Poricy, volunteers will split up into teams to clean up various areas, including an old dump site in a ravine at Poricy Park, debris along the bank of the Swimming River on Red Bank’s West Side, and an old dump site along the Swimming River reservoir in Holmdel.
Trash bags will be provided, but volunteers are advised to wear work or garden gloves.
Registration for individuals and groups is available online.
New Jersey Community Water Watch is a joint project of the New Jersey Public Interest Research Group (NJPIRG) and AmeriCorps dedicated to improving local waterways through education and service.