MIDDLETOWN — Joseph S. Martin, 44, of Middletown wants to help protect the natural condition of Pews Creek in his hometown, so he cleaned up the area around it last month.
Joseph Reynolds, 39, of Atlantic Highlands said he hopes to decrease pollution by educating people about the wildlife living in local waterways.
Martin is the founder of the Friends of Pews Creek, while Reynolds is a co-chairman of the Bayshore Regional Watershed Council. Two volunteer groups, the Pews Creek organization and the Watershed Council, are working to keep local waterways clean.
At the March 24 Pews Creek cleanup event near the Bray Avenue Bridge, about 15 volunteers from the Pews Creek group, the Watershed Council, the Middletown Environmental Commission and Brookdale Community College Water Watch spent two hours collecting trash that included shopping carts, tires, car parts, beer bottles and cigarette butts.
The volunteers filled 15 bags with recycling material and another 15 bags with solid waste, said Martin, who estimated that they collected between 500 and 1,000 pounds of recycling material and garbage.
Martin lives in Middletown. His wife, Kari, is also a member of the Friends of Pews Creek, and she works for Clean Ocean Action.
"I've been living in this area most of my life, and we really enjoy the natural beauty of the Pews Creek watershed," Martin said.
He said some of the volunteers with his group also help out with the beach sweeps organized by Clean Ocean Action. This spring, those beach sweeps will be held on April 28.
Reynolds said the Watershed Council tries to preserve land around the Bayshore area and improve the water quality in the region, which stretches from South Amboy to the Highlands.
Currently, the group is using a $55,000 state grant to try to improve the water quality in Flat Creek in Hazlet and Holmdel, a waterway that has been designated by the state as "severely impaired," Reynolds said.
With another $30,000 grant, the group is working on a dredge material management plan for the Bayshore region, he said.
Reynolds, a birdwatcher who loves wildlife, said he became involved in environmental issues as a teen and has been a member of the Watershed Council for six years, and its co-chair for more than four.
"It got to the point where I got disgusted seeing all (the) trash on the beach," he said.
He and other volunteers want to teach people about the fish, turtles, frogs and other animals that live in those waterways.
"Slowly but surely, we're spreading that word that there is life on the beaches and in the waters and we have to do something to protect it," he said.
The Watershed Council meets on the second Thursday of every month at 7:30 p.m. at Keyport Borough Hall. Meetings are open to the public.
