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Summertime in the BelgradesContentsfor Printing Article Summaries |
Respect For Public Areasby Dale Finseth This week seems like a good time to offer some thoughts on the "common good." Given the recent attention given the 20-year anniversary of the Kennebec Land Trust, it brought to mind the whole concept of public lands and shared responsibilities. The Kennebec Highlands is a great example of people working together to identify common natural resource priorities and do something about those priorities. They invest in open spaces and attend to their preservation and protection. Some of us have smaller parts to play. I must admit that a recent walk in my neighborhood, which takes me along Cobbossee Stream next to a popular swimming hole, really focused my attention on this issue of "the common" and each person's responsibility to take care of it. My ire was raised by the evidence strewn about where my "common" had obviously been mistreated by others. I'm speaking of litter and garbage scattered about an area used by locals for walks, swimming and other miscellaneous activities. I must admit that the swimming hole is mostly used by youngsters, adolescents and young adults but there is no reason to expect less of them. My visits to riverfront parks or one of the local boat ramps provides plenty of examples where people do not take care of their own garbage or share responsibilities for these common areas. Many of the people who use these areas are no longer youngsters. Maine has a number of public areas used by any number of people. Areas in the Belgrades and in the Cobbossee watershed are blessed with even more of those areas where the public has great access to our common natural resources. The great outdoors including trails, streams, lakes and ponds are some of the assets we all hold in common. Whether it is garbage, pollution, invasive plants or animals or any number of other destructive elements, when we do not pick up after ourselves, we shift that burden onto others. I'm tired of being one of the "others." Occasionally I think ahead and take an old shopping bag with me in order to pick up waste. When kayaking, that is usually the case when I take my boat out of the water and toss miscellaneous junk in the back of my truck but I'd prefer not taking care of other people's mess. Not that there are not examples of responsible behavior. Many groups may organize local cleanup campaigns to make an area more presentable. A couple of years ago I actually saw a couple of the more notorious "trouble makers" in our neighborhood down at the swimming hole. It had gotten to look pretty bad. They were collecting garbage and bagging it up to take out to the road. Following that I made the effort to hold those two youngsters in much higher regard as they went sauntering down the street to hang out down at the corner store. There was plenty in their daily behavior that I didn't care for but I had to admit that they had been responsible about taking care of our shared "common." I appreciated that they didn't shift that job onto my shoulders. For information about any of our conservation projects please contact Dale Finseth at | ||