Alpena, MichiganLocal Weather Alerts
There are currently no active weather alerts.

New environmental group picks up Bay View Park

ALPENA, Mich.– A new environmental group turned out at bay view park Saturday.

Meagen Schwartz founded “Great Lakes: Great Responsibility” only a few weeks ago. Saturday she and her crew turned out at Bay View park to pick up trash that waves washed on shore during last week’s high winds.

Schwartz ran the clean–up under the banner of a larger campaign: the Great Lakes One Million Challenge, which seeks to pick up a million pieces of trash along the shores of the great lakes.

Schwartz said a sight in her home town of Ossineke inspired the organization.

“I got really inspired when I saw quite a bit of trash out on my local beach and thought ‘why not engage other people who love clean water and clean lakes to help accomplish this one million pieces of trash goal.'”

Schwartz and her volunteers picked up over a thousand trash items in just a half hour, including fiberglass boat fragments.

Great Lakes: Great Responsibility is an informal group, but Schwartz said she’s considered seeking a more official status.