Great Massachusetts Clean Up 2018

The Great Massachusetts Clean Up at John’s Pond Conservation Area in Mashpee, MA

Featured in the Mashpee Enterprise, please enjoy this link:

https://www.capenews.net/mashpee/news/volunteers-clean-dump-sites-at-johns-pond-conservation-area/article_e1b1ae74-a24d-53ba-9dd5-d3b8f20ceb61.html#utm_campaign=blox&utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social

 

Off-Road Services/Special Land Stewards provided by Mohawk 4×4 Adventures

This story starts at the November 2017 Massachusetts Annual Trails Conference.  A chance meeting between Michael White, president of Mohawk, and Katelyn Cadoret, Assistant Conservation Agent for Mashpee, MA that led to a fantastic partnership in a project to make immediate and lasting improvements to a conservation area affected by illegal dumping.

Volunteers included members of Mashpee Land Stewards, Mohawk 4×4 Adventures, Backyard Built 4×4, Old Colony Trail Blazers and local residents.

Katelyn provided photographs, pictures and mapped locations of the largest areas, and set up a site visit to help get a handle on logistics required.  Trail work would be required to gain access for our vehicles, which would also help with emergency equipment access in the future.

Michael White, Lara White and Katelyn Cadoret during our planning visit on April 7th, 2018. Katelyn provided a very informative and educational visit to the forested area and sand pits.

Below are three photographs from April 28 and 29th.  This is only one area, but demonstrates the determination to do a job well.  Volunteers came from MA, NH, RI, and CT for an opportunity to make a difference.  Obviously, volunteerism has its own rewards, but pizza, tee shirts and a special permit to camp and operate our vehicles during and immediately after the clean up on conservation land are nice bonuses!

This area was the largest pile of litter, covering approximately 1000 sq ft of Earth.
The enthusiastic vibe through out the project was amazing. A huge shout out to Seekonk Tree Service for bringing volunteers and a small dump truck to keep things moving.
This is the result of our clean up. This is one area of many that received the same treatment. Volunteers removed the dumped materials, and went the extra mile with rakes and even shovels to return these areas to as natural a state as possible.
Here we have Tyler from Townsend, MA and Lazz, a Cape Cod resident. Both men enjoy off-road driving and Overlanding. Scrap metal piles and pieces needed to be pulled from overgrowth with recovery straps and winches. Some of it was cut into smaller pieces to transport out of the clean up areas.
Our crew uses tools to leave the environment better than we found it.

All in all, this event was a huge success.  Going beyond our obvious positive impact, we’ve formed new alliances with off-road groups and people.  We’ve developed a relationship with a conservation commission.  We’ve proven to ourselves and others that common problems can share common solutions – And that’s common sense.

Off roading Adventures in New England