WAKULLA COUNTY, FL — Keep Wakulla County Beautiful (KWCB) is partnering with the US Forest Service for its annual Apalachicola National Forest cleanup, with volunteers gathering on March 7 to remove trash from the forest in honor of America's 250th birthday.
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Volunteers will meet at Hudson Park at 8 a.m. for the cleanup and spread out to various locations throughout the Apalachicola National Forest to collect trash.
This is part of the Keep America Beautiful organization's goal to collect 250 billion pounds of trash from forests across the country by July 4, 2026.
Tammie Nason of Keep Wakulla County Beautiful says the effort goes beyond appearances.
"The trash has effects on wildlife. It has effects on our waterways. Anything that hits the ground is going to end up in our waterways. Plus in Wakulla County, you know, our visitors come here to hike. They come here to fish. They come here to hunt. And if the environment is not clean, they're not going to come. So it is important for the local businesses, important for visitors, and important for the environment," Nason said.
Nason said past cleanups have turned up some surprising finds and some alarming ones.
"We found a boat abandoned in there, I mean, for years and years, and we crunched it up in a dumpster. But we usually find, I'd say, between six and twelve tons, I think, of garbage in the forest," explains Nason. "A lot of it is tires. We have found sites where there's just been hundreds and hundreds of fluorescent bulbs that have been dumped in the forest."
Nason said the impact of litter on wildlife can be unexpected. She said Wakulla SWAT has found that squirrels are becoming addicted to nicotine from eating cigarette butts left on the ground.
Nason is encouraging neighbors to sign up to volunteer for the cleanup.
Volunteers will meet at Hudson Park at 8 a.m. on March 7.
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