By SHERRI KOLADE
Times-Herald Newspapers
HEIGHTS – The Dearborn Heights Watershed Stewards Commission will host its 19th annual Ecorse Creek Clean-Up April 21 at the city’s Swapka Park and they are looking for volunteers.
Comission Co-Chair Barb Goryca said the Watershed Commissions’ most important message is for citizens to stop using Ecorse Creek as a dumping ground.
“We believe this message, over the years, has begun to have an effect all along the creek,” Goryca said.
Since its beginning, volunteers from Dearborn Heights – under the eye of the Watershed Stewards Commission – have cleaned debris from the Ecorse Creek watershed, according to a Dearborn Heights press release.
Past volunteers include local elected officials, National Honor Society students from four local school districts and many other environmentally active citizens, according to the release.
The Dearborn Heights Watershed Stewards Commission was formed to educate citizens about how individuals can affect Ecorse Creek with their daily decisions.
To continue the Stewards’ goal of public awareness, Dearborn Heights has also invested in several new signs along Van Born Road, Goryca said. The blue and white signs, which appear at the cross streets of Monroe, Telegraph, Beech Daly and Gulley, carry the environmental message: “Ecorse Creek … Ours To Protect.”
Goryca said people should come out to help take care of their community.
“We all feel that something should be done and this is your chance to help the water quality,” Goryca said.
Goryca added that they are seeking volunteers for the project.
“A little bit makes a difference,” she said.
Registration will begin at 8:30 a.m. The cleanup is from 9 a.m. to noon.
To pre-register for the event, or for more information, call 313-274-3144, or contact Volunteer Coordinator Bob Constan at [email protected].