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This is a story that will fill you with negative emotions; Sadness, anger, frustration, disgust... but it will also fill you with joy, happiness (and maybe a little bit of awe). LOL
Those who follow my work know, I love nature. It's a happy place of mine, and I feel so fortunate that here in Frankford, we have so much beautiful nature around us to enjoy. I spend several days per week in the woods exploring the trails that run from Batawa to Frankford, all on Bata property and available to use for hiking, mountain biking, trail running and simply enjoying (and respecting) nature.
There was a spot I was curious about, which was a driveway that led into the woods. No signs or anything saying "stay out". So before venturing in I jumped online and found the maps of Bata property, including the trails on the North and South sides of Perry road, and turns out also this little section of land. The following week, I took a detour on my run to explore down the "mystery driveway". Unfortunately, despite being beautiful forest all around me, there was also a TON of this...
And unfortunately, these shots were only the two major piles.
There was garbage dumped all around in these woods. Including larger items as well such as a lazy boy chair, a printer and so much more...
I was 100% disgusted, angry and all of the negative emotions you can think of! How can people be like this!?!? How can they have ZERO respect for nature and others!?!? There is plenty of littering around our little town (unfortunately), but this was an extreme!
I contacted the Batawa Development Corporation (BDC), as well as the City of Quinte West. Not only to let them know about this awful scene but also to let them know I plan to get a group of amazing people together to clean it up! The BDC and the City of Quinte West were very thankful and helpful. The city dropped off a bunch of industrial sized garbage bags for us, and I told them where and when they could pick up the trash!!
I knew I had some clients who would be on board with helping, as they love nature as much as I do and are fellow "Frankfordians". I messaged a handful of people to tell them my plan and organize a night ASAP to get out there and clean up our nature. (A good friend of mine who is often with me on nature adventures, unfortunately "couldn't" join us as he was heading to Australia/New Zealand on business (You coulda just said "no" and not drummed up such a far fetched story, Ryan!) LOL Just kidding.
As expected, my fellow superheroes were on board. We initially had 4 of us to attack the piles of 'who knows what' out in the woods, but as we loaded up to walk out to the woods, we were down to three. Oh well...
BRING IT ON!
We got straight to work when we got into the woods, starting at the major pile and working our way down the driveway and back to the road where we brought ALL the garbage. Danielle 'the Flash' and Steph 'the Newfoundland Extreme' were on fire! They were tearing around those woods loading things up and carrying garbage to the road like champions! Who wouldn't want to spend a Tuesday evening cleaning up other people's garbage eh? But hey, it was worth it. Not only because we loaded up a TON of trash and cleaned up our beautiful nature in our hometown, but we also found some surprising items...
-A couple vacuums
-A carpet cleaner
-A Printer
-A baby chair/swing thingy
And many other big (and sometimes odd) things!
Myself, I was on fire with finding stuff I must say. I totalled 5-pairs of underwear don't ya know!? But wait, that's nothing! I also found;
-An angel ornament
-A Mary and Joseph ornament
-A Jesus statue
Whoa!!
Whether it was Jesus himself, an angel or Mother Nature, I do believe someone was with us tonight to push us along like absolute superheroes. Look at this bundle we left for the city to come pick up tomorrow...
These are industrial sized garbage bags folks. Trust me, this picture doesn't do it justice. There was THIS MUCH garbage dumped without a care or even a thought to it. So sad.
And yes, if you're wondering - I really did bring my Batman headband my daughter made me, because... why not!? But that's not all, I also brought my "Bat-stick" to help us!!!
If you take a second to look away from the amazing headband and "bat-stick" tool that is probably drawing your attention and awe, this pic gives a much better perspective of how big these bags are!
Alfred AND Mr Miagi would be proud of what we accomplished tonight. I know the three of us are!! (This is also what will happen if we ever catch someone being so careless LOL)
Thank you Danielle and Steph; The two amazing people who helped me get this job done. As awful as it is that people would dump garbage in nature AND on someone else's property, for someone else to deal with, I do believe THEY are the MINORITY. I believe the MAJORITY of us want clean towns and nature areas free of human garbage so we can all enjoy these places. That being said, if more of us TAKE ACTION we can make that difference.
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