Jacobs Creek in Mt. Pleasant Township among waterways cleaned up in 6-state effort

Mt. Pleasant brothers Ethan and Carter Mates wanted to help so they donned bright orange vests, gloves and face masks as they walked nearly two miles to collect bottles, cigarette butts, fast food wrappers and other trash left near the banks of Jacobs Creek.

“We thought it was a good idea to help the environment,” said Carter, 14. He and his older brother were among the small group that ventured out Saturday morning in Mt. Pleasant Township to clean a section along that runs beside a portion of the 98-square miles of waterway from Acme to Kecksburg.

The group bagged trash and garbage left along side Jacobs Creek as part of a regional effort in six neighboring states to “sweep” waterways in the Ohio River Basin.

Taylor Robbins, project coordinator for the Jacobs Creek Watershed Association, said the cleanup effort is one that is unfortunately needed.

“We want to make sure we are keeping our watershed beautiful,” Robbins said. “We want to show people that things that are thrown away here will not end up in a landfill, but in our streams.”

Planning for the cleanup started about a week ago as restrictions caused by the coronavirus pandemic eased. Robbins said the watershed group just reopened its office and with little advance notice decided to move forward with the event.

“It’s important because we don’t want any trash that’s outside to get washed away into our streams,” Robbins said. “The garbage that you leave outside, it gets washed away. It hurts all of the animals that are in our water, and it just takes away from the beauty of our streams.”

The watershed group has sponsored cleanups along Jacobs Creek for about 10 years. The Mates brothers and a handful of others gathered near the Bridgeport Dam.

“It’s a good cause. We saw it on Facebook and wanted to help out,” said 17-year-old Ethan.

Jonathan Fox of Scottdale has participated in nearly all of the organization’s river sweeps.

“We’re making the world better for our kids and grandkids and beyond,” Fox said.