April 25: Join The Friends of the Delaware Canal

From Kate Fratti in the BCCT.

Calling all canal lovers
By: KATE FRATTI
Bucks County Courier Times

Feeling ambitious? Or just in need of some fresh air? The Friends of the Delaware Canal hope so. They need you to lend them a hand at spring cleaning on April 25.

Come on. At least think about it. If you ever visit the canal for long walks, bike rides, fishing and exercising the dog, it's not a bad way to show some gratitude. Also not a bad way to meet other canal lovers or to spend some free quality time with the kids. Tell them Canal Cleanup Day is a treasure hunt.

Friends Director Susan Taylor has made a few interesting finds in the years she's been participating in the cleanup. Seems she found a perfectly intact dried bat once. "As in the mammal bat," she explained. OK. Treasure is a strong word.

She did find a bag of coins totaling $10. Another time she found prom accessories, including bow tie and corsage. She also was on hand to watch a helper find a snapping turtle hiding in a tire. "The person dropped that tire really fast," she recalled. It was good for a laugh.

The Friends of the Delaware Canal is "an independent, not-for-profit organization working to restore, preserve and improve the canal and its surroundings. Its primary goals are to ensure that the canal is fully watered from Easton to Bristol and that the towpath trail is useable over its entire length.

No small task, but a supremely worthwhile goal. Bucks County boasts an awful lot of pretty places to soak up nature, but portions of the canal rival all others.

I live closest to the sections near Black Rock Road in Lower Makefield. It's one of my favorite places. Dredging there is expected to be done by May 18.

Which means my part of the canal - between Yardley and Morrisville - will be picture postcard perfect again this summer. Turtles sunning (when they aren't hiding in tires), fish jumping, birds of every feather and wildflowers along the banks, water lilies in the center. Come early enough in the morning or late enough in the day and you'll see deer coming to drink.

I'll never understand how anyone who's witnessed the historic canal's beauty could leave behind the litter they do - things like soda cans and tangled fishing tackle - requiring a massive cleanup every spring.

Susan says she'll need about 100 volunteers to get the job done this year. And that's with 30 of the 60 miles of canal between Bristol and Easton still undergoing restoration so off the cleanup roster.

For work purposes, the canal has been divided into three zones, upper, central and lower canal. Cleanup teams will be led by area coordinators. The New Hope Garden Club is pitching in. As always, Franklin Delano Roosevelt Middle School in Bristol Township will be doing its part, too. Mary Kehoe will coordinate in Bristol again.

"She recruits young people and the Bristol Hibernians. She gets lots of food donated from local businesses to feed her crew," Susan said.

Canal Cleanup Day will begin at 9 a.m. and continue throughout the day. Everyone who wants to participate should choose a convenient or needy location, and then contact the area coordinator. The coordinator will let volunteers know where to meet and what to bring. Gloves, long-handled nets, boots, and branch snippers are useful, Susan said. Trash bags will be provided.

"Canoe or kayak owners who are volunteering in sections of the canal that have water are urged to bring their boats to retrieve the elusive trash that lies just out of reach in the water and on the berm bank," she said.

If you live in Falls and enjoy the canal, you are especially needed. The Friends still are seeking a coordinator for the cleanup there. To lead a group of "willing trash pickers, brush clippers and tire retrievers," call 215-862-2021.

That's also the number to call for all other information about the cleanup day and to find out who your coordinator will be. You also can e-mail questions to friends@fodc.org.