Over 30 Volunteers Work on Second Caves Clean-Up Effort

IRONWOOD, MI - by Lily Palmer - Sunday, May 2, 2010 - The Friends of the Miners Memorial Heritage Park lead a Caves Clean-Up Day last Saturday, May 1st. Over 30 people showed up to help remove old mattresses, scrap metal, couches, rugs, tires, and even a refrigerator from Ironwood's historic mining grounds. Participants spread out from the city bus garage on Ayer Street, with some groups traveling east to Bonnie Street and others heading west near the skate park. In one particularly steep area, the Friends tied a rope to a tree at the top of a hill and created a human chain extending down to the base of the hill. By this manner, people were able to stabilize themselves by holding onto the rope, while still passing garbage quickly from the bottom to the top of the slope. Heavier items were towed up hills using ropes alone.

Clean up around the compost site resulted in hundreds of garbage bags that once contained leaves and other yard debris. Metal, box springs, bicycle frames and miscellaneous trash overflowed on and around the two city dump trucks left for the clean up over the weekend.

A barbeque after the clean up was made possible by donations from Northwinds Natural Food Co-op, Steep Creek Outfitters and Walmart.

Lily Palmer