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Keep Blair Beautiful plans this month to check out how messy area residents have been over the winter.
As an affiliate of Keep America Beautiful, KBB is responsible for conducting an annual litter survey of the area to test the effectiveness if its cleanup and educational efforts, according to Katrina Pope, education and enforcement coordinator for the Intermunicipal Relations Committee, which operates KBB.
Three-person teams in vehicles do the work: one driving, one looking left, one looking right, Pope said.
The observers count the pieces of trash they see on the public right-of-way.
The routes are a quarter- to a half-mile long, such as one on Allegheny Street from Juniata Street to The Dream restaurant.
"You drive a little slower than the speed limit," Pope said at a recent KBB meeting.
There are 10 routes per zone and five zones -- thus 50 routes overall -- in KBB's territory, according to Pope.
It takes a day or two to complete the survey, Pope said.
The teams translate what they see into numerical scores between 1 and 4 -- not littered, slightly littered, littered and extremely littered, she said.
The scores are averaged to get a number for each zone.
Most of the zones are within the coverage area of the IRC, where that organization focuses most of its educational efforts, Pope said.
KBB member Michelle McIntyre, director of the Roaring Spring Community Library, asked if there were any routes planned for Morrisons Cove.
Not at present, said Pope, who plans to meet with a consultant this week to refine her plans for the survey.
There should be, said McIntyre, recalling the sight of plenty of litter along Route 36 in McKee.
Pope tentatively set March 18-20 for the survey work, in hopes that by then, in addition to the extended daylight, the snow will have disappeared.
The work needs to be done before the foliage appears, so the trash isn't hidden, she said.
KBB is also planning for Earth Day exhibits in the atrium area of Logan Valley Mall, near JCPenney, between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. April 27.
Other organizations that may set up displays or perform include the Intergovernmental Stormwater Committee, the Little Juniata River Association, AmeriCorps, the Pennsylvania Game Commission, at art club from Saint Francis University and the Allegheny Ukulele Kollective, Pope said.
Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 949-7038.