My work with Allegheny CleanWays over the last 2 years has increased the capacity of many of our programs. Allegheny CleanWays hadn't ever had both a full-time Executive Director and a full-time Project Coordinator. What a luxury! While most of my time has been devoted to other programs, I am most proud of my work strengthening our stewardship program.
Stewardship is important to me because it focuses on sustaining the results of our work to clean an area. It takes a different combination of strategies to prevent re-dumping at each site. There is no silver bullet. Ideally, the strategy includes involving a nearby resident to monitor the site. Allegheny CleanWays cleans dozens of dump sites each year, and cannot keep tabs on all of them with a very small staff. Not only does this prevent an accumulation of dumping, but it strengthens our relationship with the communities in which we work and gives them a voice and a part to play in keeping their neighborhood beautiful.
My favorite aspect of the stewardship program is the Urban EcoStewards partnership we have with the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy and other organizations invested in the vitality of parks and green spaces. Urban EcoStewards adopt a small section of land to correct problems that might exist on the site, in addition to preventing re-dumping and litter accumulation. This enables us to help improve the overall health and natural value of the land. Urban EcoStewards receive one-on-one support through annual site visits and have access to free trainings on relevant issues. Training workshops cover such topics as invasive plant identification and removal techniques, wildflower identification, erosion control, native shrub and tree identification, native seed collection, and techniques for leading a crew of volunteers.
When I started in 2012, Allegheny CleanWays had recruited one team of three stewards for our first Urban EcoSteward site in Stanton Heights. Now we have 8 Urban EcoStewards on five sites in five different neighborhoods in Pittsburgh. We now also have about two dozen other stewards who monitor former dump sites and report new dumping to us, but aren't involved in ecological restoration. My hope is that after I finish my 2 years of AmeriCorps service with Allegheny CleanWays, those relationships with the organization will be sustained and the program will continue to grow. If you're interested in signing up to be a site monitor for a former dump site, please contact info@alleghenycleanways.org.
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