Volunteers spend time bagging garbage

ROXBURY – A handful of volunteers gathered early Saturday morning at Hopatcong State Park in the Landing section of the township for the twenty-third annual Musconetcong Watershed Association cleanup.
Fanning out across the park and working along the banks of the Musconetcong River, which begins at the dam of Lake Hopatcong, volunteers filled a dozen large bags with garbage, spending just about two

hours working to complete the cleanup.
For Angelica Babchak from Hopatcong and five-year-old Talia Perrotti, cleaning the Musconetcong Watershed area is something she thinks more of her neighbors should be doing. Last year, she said, she and another volunteer filled six bags of garbage themselves.
“This park is so close,” she said as she walked toward the picnic area, armed with a small garden rake and garbage bags. “This is for the diapers,” she said referring to the rake.
Along the river, Lindsay Lynch, Cathy Hegarty and daughter Catherine, all representing the Lenape Valley Kiwanis Club, picked their way through thick underbrush and balanced over the rushing river on fallen trees to reach bits of garbage.
“It seems cleaner this year,” said Catherine Hegarty, mentioning that they missed the cleanup last year but did participate two years ago.
According to the MWA website the annual cleanup takes place along the entire length of the river, from Lake Hopatcong to the Delaware River near Pohatcong, NJ.
For more information about the Musconetcong Watershed Association visit www.musconetcong.org.