Volunteers in Pocatello cleared trash from parks, trails

Volunteers in Pocatello cleaned up some of the city’s most popular parks and trails Saturday morning.

Junior Civitan members gathered at Zoo Idaho in Ross Park and the Pocatello Running Club at City Creek trailhead to help pick up trash littering the environment.

It is Zoo Idaho’s second annual Earth Day Cleanup. It’s a day that focuses on clearing trash and debris, making it safer for zoo animals and wildlife to live in a cleaner and safer environment.

However, the most abundant trash found Saturday was cigarette filters. They are often hard to find but can be the most detrimental to animals.

“The biggest problem with those is that they’re full of toxins,” Zoo Idaho education curator Rachael Shearouse said. “Animals are eating them because they’re small and they resemble seeds or things they want to eat.”

Depending on the environment, cigarette filters can take two to 10 years to fully decompose.

“That’s all going to head into our water, that just seeps through the ground to our watershed,” Shearouse said.

Just down the street from Ross Park, the Pocatello Running Club cleaned City Creek Trail. Those volunteers also found an abundance of cigarette filters.

John Tunce, a member of the club, had been cleaning the trail since 8 a.m.

“We have an amazing trail system here,” Tunce said. “Just try to clean up. It’s a lot easier to clean up one or two messes as opposed to having a whole crew up here.”

However, as a tribute to Earth Day on Monday, bringing awareness of the negative effects of littering was everyone’s goal Saturday.

“That’s what we’re really trying to do with all of these events and bringing that to everything,” Shearouse said.

To find out how you can help with Pocatello Running Club’s next trash cleanup, you can visit their Facebook page.