Staunton River State Park Checks In
Staunton River State Park
Keeping the Park a Little Cleaner
Working at Staunton River State Park for 13 years now, I have seen the Park make strides in providing guests with the services and facilities they have come to expect. Using each visitor’s comments to think of ways to correct problems is just one of the many tools we use to enhance their visit. While the park has grown in many ways using this method, there have always been a few challenges that we have not quite tackled. Many factors contribute to our inability to correct these problems but two of the most common would be manpower and/or funding.
In the past few years as visitors have become more environmentally conscious we have received a lot more feedback on litter and recycling. Some of these issues have been easier than others to address. People often complain about trash on the shoreline. We are easily able to offer this up as service project for Boy scouts, Youth Conservation Corp, church groups and other organizations that are happy to pitch for a day long service project. Cigarette litter on the other hand is not one of those easy solutions. While we have had groups help clean cigarette litter from around buildings, campsites, and picnic areas, it is just not one of those glorious tasks that everyone is eager to help with.
So how do we get there? How can we reasonably get the amount of cigarette litter under control? All good questions that from time to time we thought we had the answer to. From signs to almost every type of container you can think of, we have tried it all and the problem seemed to remain the same. There always seemed to be an issue with the containers that made them just as big of a problem as the litter on the ground. In late summer of 2010 just before returning to college one of the seasonal maintenance rangers came in my office with this picture of a cigarette urn that he thought would help accomplish our goals. A few of the features he noted was the concrete construction, the overall recognizable design, and colors that would compliment the rest of the park. So I added it to my work list to review even though I knew that there was no way to even think about installing 30 or more of these units around the park. On my list it remained, getting glanced at every few weeks until I received an e-mail about Keep Virginia Beautiful 30 in 30 program.
There was a grant category specifically geared toward cigarette litter and it quickly drew my attention. This would be the perfect opportunity to install several of the cigarette butt receptacles that were recommended by the seasonal staff. They would even have something to hold over my head if the urns worked the way they were supposed to. In May of 2011 six new concrete cigarette urns were installed in some of the areas that have the worst problem with cigarette litter. Following Labor Day 2011, the urns were emptied and 2 ½ five gallon buckets worth of cigarette litter were saved from littering the ground. While I never thought transitioning to a specific style urn would help the problem, I must admit that I have been proven wrong. We are now planning to continue the effort to change all the different containers in the park over to this style as we try to make Staunton River State Park a little cleaner for you!
