Volunteers clean up Yough River

By TAYLOR BROWN

tbrown@yourmvi.com

More than 30 volunteers from the Mon Valley headed to the Youghiogheny River last weekend to make a difference.

The Belle Vernon and West Newton Rotary clubs, with help from Youghiogheny Canoe Outfitters and Westmoreland Cleanways, sponsored a river cleanup that ran from Cedar Creek Park in Rostraver Township to West Newton. 

Westmoreland Cleanways and Recycling is a nonprofit organization that aims to protect, restore and maintain the environmental qualities of Westmoreland County for its residents. 

Belle Vernon Rotary President Tom Yoder started the project last year after seeing a need while on the water. 

“I’m a kayaker and canoer,” Yoder said. “Those tires have been there a long time and I figured we could do something about it.” 

Last year, several organizations teamed up and pulled nearly 400 tires from the water. 

Things looked a little different this year because of the pandemic, but the event was still successful. 

“Because of COVID-19 and the weather we didn’t have as big of a turnout this year, but we still had almost 40 people,” Yoder said. “It was a colder day to be on the water, but it didn’t rain as much as it predicted so the water level was low and made it pretty evident where the tires were located.” 

To read the rest of the story, please see a copy of Friday’s Mon Valley Independent, call 724-314-0035 to subscribe or subscribe to our online edition at http://monvalleyindependent.com.