By Kevin Hanson-The Courier-Herald
Lisa Eilertson figures the Enumclaw Plateau is simply too pretty to mess up.
Litter along the roadway leading to her rural home eventually became too much to bear so the Plateau transplant - with the encouragement and support of her husband, Scott, and two school-age children - decided to launch a one-woman educational campaign.
The result is “Keeping the ‘Claw Clean,” an effort based on the simple premise that it's wrong to toss trash from a moving vehicle.
Growing up in another state, it always seemed as though roadside trash was being picked up through inmate labor, Eilertson said. That wasn't the case when her family settled in the Cumberland area, however. When the summer's tall grasses gave way to the starkness of winter in 2006, she saw roads lined with discarded bottles, cans and other assorted trash, all courtesy of passing motorists and their passengers.
Throughout 2007, Eilertson and her husband waged a private war against litter, cleaning a stretch of Veazie-Cumberland Road in a strictly-unofficial capacity. This year, when spring rolled around, she looked for a formal course of action. She found it through the Adopt-A-Road program, an offering of the state's Department of Transportation.
Eilertson said she was surprised how simple it was and how responsive the DOT was to her request. In short order, the department's Marian Proctor was at her door, offering a kit that included trash bags, brightly-colored vests and “pik-sticks” that allow trash to be picked up without getting one's hands too dirty.
The best part, Eilertson said, is the fact that DOT crews quickly respond to pick up the filled trash bags.
Keeping the ‘Claw Clean has officially adopted a stretch of Veazie-Cumberland Road from 392nd to 307th.
Referring to roadside trash, Eilertson said the problem grows worse away from the visibility of town.
“I see it around Enumclaw, too, but much less,” she said.
Figuring the best way to attack the problem in the long term is to educate children, Eilertson went to Enumclaw School District Superintendent Mike Nelson and Kibler Elementary Principal Julene Miller. She received approval to talk to Kibler kids as part of an Earth Day assembly.
She remembers hearing anti-smoking messages as a child and passing the lesson on to adults. She hopes today's kids will follow suit and take the anti-littering message to heart.
As part of her message to Kibler students, Eilertson emphasized the need to keep trash in its proper place. Further, she reminded students that it's OK to pick up other people's garbage, if that's what it takes to keep a community clean.
“This is my big undertaking, especially along Veazie-Cumberland,” Eilertson said.
Kevin Hanson can be reached at khanson@courierherald.com.
