Please help us keep Maine clean

I hope you will join us in a project called Keep Maine Clean, created to remove litter from our waterways, woods, and roadsides.

A couple years ago the legislature, in response to legislation I proposed, expanded the landowner relations program at the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, by including the Keep Maine Clean project. Unfortunately, the agency only agreed to do the project in the woods, not along roadsides.

So I was very grateful when the Maine Resource Recovery Association stepped up to sponsor the project statewide. We hope to build an army of good folks who pick up trash along our roads and highways. And MRRA is focusing some of this effort on recycling the roadside trash, a great idea.

Glance out your car window as you drive Maine’s roads and you’ll know how important this is. Our roadsides are filled with trash, except where Mainers are picking it up. I’ve been doing this and writing about road slobs for several years now.

And I was doubly grateful when the Maine Outdoor Heritage Fund, another project that was my idea, gave a grant to MRRA to help get this project up and running. The latest MOHF email alert told us about this important project.

MOHF message

Keep Maine Clean is a statewide initiative dedicated to conserving Maine’s natural beauty by working to reduce litter, increase recycling and promote the responsible use of private lands used for public recreation.

Founded in a response to increasing amounts of roadside litter and illegal dumping on private lands, KMC recruits and engages outdoor enthusiasts willing to pick up and recycle trash along our roads, on our beaches and lakes, and in our fields and forests.

KMC works to encourage folks to pick up and recycle this trash as they walk Maine’s roads, beaches and forests and utilize private lands for public recreation.

To publicize the program and attract volunteers, a new website, www.keepmaineclean.org was built and launched with two original PSA videos produced by O’Chang Comics.

KMC also created a brochure for outreach purposes and stickers to hand out at events. Volunteer emails were also gathered, and a listserv was established to provide updates, share information about litter pick up events and an e-newsletter to those interested in the program.

Follow Keep Maine Clean on Facebook for more info.

Conclusion

Please do that. We do need your help with this project, to keep our state clean!

George Smith

About George Smith

George stepped down at the end of 2010 after 18 years as the executive director of the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine to write full time. He writes a weekly editorial page column in the Kennebec Journal and Waterville Morning Sentinel, a weekly travel column in those same newspapers (with his wife Linda), monthly columns in The Maine Sportsman magazine, two outdoor news blogs (one on his website, georgesmithmaine.com, and one on the website of the Bangor Daily News), and special columns for many publications and newsletters. Islandport Press published a book of George's favorite columns, "A Life Lived Outdoors" in 2014. In 2014, George also won a Maine Press Association award for writing the state's bet sports blog. In 2016, Down East Books published George's book, Maine Sporting Camps, and Islandport Press published George and his wife Linda's travel book, Take It From ME, about their favorite Maine inns and restaurants.