A spring cleaning in Milburn Lake Park

Last Saturday marked the fifth consecutive Baldwin Park Earth Day Community Clean-Up at Milburn Lake Park. Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano partnered with State Assemblyman Brian Curran and County Legislator Laura Curran to lead the effort at the adjoining pond and creek that span more than 32 acres. Curran invited volunteers to help clean up the park and restore its natural beauty.

“It was a great event — we cleaned up the park, and it looks fantastic,” Curran said. “More importantly, what it also provides is an opportunity for my office to see the park, and to see if there’s any type of issues, either in the park or the surrounding areas, so that we can go back to the county and talk to them about what we can do to improve the parks.”

More than 40 volunteers took part in this year’s cleanup, ranging in age from 4 to 88, Curran said. Members of the Baldwin Civic Association, high school students and Boy Scouts got involved, and Curran said he was pleased to see so many play a part in restoring the park. “It’s great to see young people, as well as the older people, just caring enough about their community to come out and clean up the park on a Saturday, when they can be doing anything else,” he said.

Lina Santana, a den leader from Cub Scout Pack 824 in Baldwin, volunteered with her son and her Scouts. “I think it really brings home to them the importance of keeping things clean, about recycling and about how we have to be kind to mother Earth,” Santana said. “They were very upset to see the different garbage that was on the floor, so that was a good teaching moment for them.”

Garbage bags filled with trash from the park — everything from candy wrappers to soda cans — piled up quickly during the 2½-hour cleanup. Curran explained that pedestrian litter as they walk through the parks, and debris makes its way around the creek.

“Sometimes, if they see a garbage pail, they’ll throw out the garbage, even if it’s 20 feet away,” he said. “But there are some people that could be right next to it and they’ll still throw it on the ground, so it really is up to the individual.”

Santana suggested that the park’s garbage bins could be painted a different color that doesn’t blend in with the grass, making them hard to miss for pedestrians. But she also put the blame on people who don’t seem to care where their trash ends up.

“I think it’s mostly people throwing stuff out of their cars that gets blown over into the parks,” said Patrick DeAngelis, one of the coordinators of the effort. “Preventing it is hard. It takes everybody to do their part.”