Discover Green Marble Falls holding cleanup of Backbone Creek at Westside Park
DANIEL CLIFTON • PICAYUNE EDITOR
MARBLE FALLS — Gabe Jones of Discover Green Marble Falls is at it again, and he’s looking for some folks who want to help clean up a park and a local creek. And all you have to do is show up with some clothes that you don’t mind getting a bit dirty.
Jones, the organizer of Discover Green Marble Falls, is hosting a Backbone Creek cleanup April 19 at Westside Park, 1610 Second St., from 9 a.m.-noon. Everybody is welcome.
This is the second time Discover Green Marble Falls has held a cleanup of Backbone Creek.
“We cleaned up the creek at Westside Park over a year ago and have noticed that it is needing to be cleaned again,” Jones said. “We are happy to go back to the place that we started. It was our first local event.”
Discover Green is a youth environmental leadership program that encourages teens and others to get involved in their local community through supporting outdoor and nature projects. Jones learned about Discover Green several years ago when he attended a workshop in Austin. The home-school student decided to create Discover Green Marble Falls as way to encourage others to get outside, help clean up the environment and support the community. Previous projects include a Backbone Creek cleanup, assisting at The Helping Center of Marble Falls community garden and planting trees at Inks Lake State Park.
While cleaning up the park and creek often falls under the umbrella of the city of Marble Falls, Jones realized budget constraints and personnel restrictions limit what officials can do.
“The cities have limited resources, and the community can really help in many ways,” Jones said. “Also, it is important for younger people to feel like they are helping their cities to have clean parks and water for the future.”
This is the first project of the year, but Jones plans on hosting more in the months to come.
“Our next project will probably be some kind of planting in another local community that we haven’t worked in yet, like Burnet or Kingsland,” Jones said. “We are open to suggestions from the community if they know of a public place that needs some help. We would love for more people to come ‘like’ our Facebook page so they can keep up with our events.”
You can learn more or contact Jones through the Discover Green Marble Falls Facebook page.
daniel@thepicayune.com