- Keep Wakulla County Beautiful and U.S Forrest Service and other groups are cleaning up the Apalachicola National Forest
- When they did the cleanup last year, they gathered almost 9,000 pounds of trash and had 100 volunteers
- Watch the video to find out why the work is needed
Braodcast Transcript:
I’m Kenzie Krueger here at the Apalachicola National Forest where this weekend they’ll be picking up garbage that’s been left here.
Keep Wakulla County Beautiful and U.S Forrest Service are teaming up with the community to help cleanup waste in the forests.
When they did the cleanup last year, they gathered almost 9,000 pounds of trash and had 100 volunteers.
Steve Cushman with Keep Wakulla County Beautiful says illegal dumping is a problem here.
“We make a dent in it, but it certainly doesn’t get it all. We have years where it starts to trend down and we start thinking we’re making some headway on it and then all the sudden it flares back up.”
If you’re caught illegally dumping in the state of Florida, penalties could result in a fine up to $10,000 or 5 years in prison.
Keep in mind that National Forrest’s are federal land.
About 72% of Wakulla County is made up of forest, which is why Cushman and members from Keep Wakulla County Beautiful are working to keep it clean.
“That’s a lot of government only and it’s for the people to utilize that then they go out and do that too and it really runs it for everyone else it’s not a lot of people that dump out there it’s a few people and they go out and do it despite the laws.”
Cushman says although they can’t stop people from dumping trash, they won’t quit working to keep the area beautiful.
“When it’s out there we make an effort to go get it.”
The Apalachicola National Forest Cleanup is March 2nd it will begin 8am at Hudson Park.
