The hillside immediately below the reserved picnic area is heavily littered. Most of the garbage consists of broken glass and constitutes an immediate danger to park visitors and wildlife.
Cincinnati Trackers and the University of Cincinnati Mountaineering Club are willing to assemble, organize, and supervise 30-45 volunteers to conduct a clean-up as described herein.
An informal survey of the project area has been conducted in order to estimate the scope of the project and the resource requirements.
The focus of the clean-up will be from the crest of the hill at the reserved picnic area and parking lot (approximately 620’ frontage) to a depth of approximately 150’ down the hill. The total area is approximately 93,000 square feet.
The density of the litter was estimated by averaging five samples taken from different, representative locations within the project area. A sample consisted of filling a 4-gallon bucket with litter and then measuring the area that was cleaned. The average density of litter is approximately 4 gallons of litter per 200 square feet. Average weight is 2.5 pounds per gallon.
Given the area and density measurements highlighted above,
approximately 1860 gallons (or 7068 liters) of litter lie within the project
area. This equates to approximately
9.2 cubic yards of waste weighing approximately 4650 pounds.
During the survey, it took an average of 10 minutes to fill a 4-gallon bucket with litter and move it a certain distance across the hillside. It will take approximately 80 volunteer hours just to load the litter from the project area into buckets.
The steepness of the hillside poses the greatest challenge. It amplifies the effort required to remove the litter and introduces concern for the impact of numerous workers accessing the project area.
Dense thickets of honeysuckle may hinder the movement of workers and material in some areas. Undergrowth has the potential to hide garbage.
An advance party will, in the two weeks preceding the clean-up, prepare the site. The boundaries of the project area will be flagged. Access routes will be identified and flagged. Haul lanes will be selected and flagged. Vegetation that impedes access routes and haul lanes will be tied back out of the way with twine where possible, and selectively cut where absolutely necessary.
On the project day, hauling teams will rig haul systems (requires Acrobat Reader to view), mark safety lanes around and down hill from these haul systems, and haul buckets of litter up the hill via the haul systems. The haul teams will consist primarily of rock climbers, mountain climbers, cavers, whitewater rescuers, and others who possess expertise in the equipment and techniques used.
The disposal team will collect buckets of litter from the top of the hill and from the haul teams. They will use garden carts to move the buckets of litter to a dumpster in the parking lot. This team may consist of individuals who are not comfortable with working on the hillside.
Pick-up teams will pick up litter from marked sections of the hillside and place it in 5-gallon buckets. Pick-up teams will move loaded buckets to the top of the hill or to haul systems along the hillside.
The oversight team will ensure that each volunteer has a pair of leather work gloves, is aware of the designated access routes, understands the hazards, completes any necessary Cincinnati Parks paperwork, understands the operation, and understands their role. The oversight team will mark sections of the hillside and designate pick-up teams to sections. The oversight team will verify that the haul teams have adequately marked their safety lanes.
Cincinnati Parks will provide the resources listed below. All un-used or re-usable materials will be returned to Cincinnati Parks upon completion of the project. All materials are to be delivered to, and picked up from, the project site unless otherwise agreed upon.
Cincinnati Parks may already possess some of these materials or they may have cheaper sources. Prices below reflect the approximate cost to purchase materials at retail.
To be provided at least four weeks prior to project date:
To be provided at least two weeks prior to the project date:
To be provided no later than 8AM on the project date:
Once an advance party has prepared the site, a crew of 35 volunteers could complete the clean-up in approximately 5 hours (including breaks).