GoHeels Exclusive: Tar Heels Pitch In For Stream Cleanup

By Pat James, GoHeels.com

In an effort to maintain a safe and healthy environment for all persons on campus and reduce UNC's contribution to ocean debris, the department of environment, health and safety (EHS) regularly schedules stream cleanups.

Campus stream cleanups are organized to help keep UNC's creeks clean and free of trash. They can also serve as team-building activities.

So when Janet Clarke, a stormwater specialist at UNC, identified a section of Meeting of the Waters Creek between the Smith Center and Manning Drive as the potential site for a stream cleanup, EHS didn't need to look far for help.

"(Clarke) came back to the office and she said, 'We looked at this stream. Can we schedule a stream cleanup?" said Mary Beth Koza, the director of EHS. "And I said sure. Then when she told me where it was, I said, 'Let's talk to Athletics and see if they'll partner with us.'"

Several emails were exchanged in the ensuing weeks. And Wednesday afternoon, the idea came to fruition.

A 30-person group – which was composed of members of EHS, the athletic event management unit and the athletic grounds and turf management unit, as well as a student-athlete – spent an hour walking through the wooded area and collecting trash.

All volunteers gathered at the corner of Manning Drive and Skipper Bowles Drive at 1 p.m. At that time, Clarke provided instructions as gloves, trash bags and trash grabbers were passed out.

Everyone then entered the woods. With the temperature hovering just above 70 degrees, the wind gently blowing and the poison ivy not leafing out too much yet, the conditions proved ideal for the cleanup.

The event was scheduled to take two hours because of the amount of trash in the area. But able to cover a lot of ground with so many volunteers, the group removed the trash in half the expected time.

Some of the most interesting items found were discovered by Mitchel Thomas, who was on the wrestling team from 2013-17 and learned about the cleanup in an email from the student-athlete development office.

"I really love this campus," he said. "And keeping it clean, I'll do my part. … There was mostly just empty bottles and stuff. But I found a few tennis balls and lacrosse balls and an old wooden crutch. Some weird stuff gets lost in the woods, I guess."

After everyone exited the woods, members of EHS thanked all the volunteers once again for coming. Someone proposed that another stream cleanup be held in conjunction with athletics four years from now. To that, someone else replied, "I was ready to do it more often."

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