SPRUCE CREEK — When it comes to removing trash along the Little Juniata River, July may not be the best month for a cleanup.

The weeds have grown high, the poison ivy has spread and groups of school-age helpers are on vacation.

Nevertheless, the Little Juniata River Association attracted about 60 people to a Saturday cleanup where they collected about 30 cubic yards of trash and 60 tires.

“We got some good work done,” association President Bill Anderson said Saturday night. “But we missed a lot people because the groups that usually come in the spring couldn’t make it in the middle of summer.”

During the traditional April cleanup, the association typically attracts about 200 people including high school and college students, civic organizations and clubs. But this year, the April event was canceled when the forecast called for four inches of snow.

Those who helped Saturday said they’re proud of what they accomplished in three hours.

“All that trash in the roll-off dumpster, it’s not going to be along the river anymore,” said John Bennis of Hollidaysburg, one of the association’s nine directors.

The Little Juniata River Association, an independent group dedicated to improving and protecting the river, its watershed and tributaries, held its first organized cleanup in April 2005. It was the spring after September 2004, when Hurricane Ivan caused flood waters to carry large amounts of trash into Tyrone and Spruce Creek.

“This year was to be our 13th cleanup,” Anderson said. “So after we canceled in April, we planned (Saturday’s cleanup) as a makeup event to keep our streak going. We didn’t want to miss a year.”

One difference between a cleanup in April and cleanup in July, association director Bill Bressler of Huntingdon said, is the amount of vegetation.

“There’s a lot more growth and underbrush,” Bressler said after the cleanup was finished. “You couldn’t always see the trash as well as you would in the spring.”

“The weeds are hiding trash at this time of year,” Anderson said. “And we were advising people to stay out of the poison ivy.”

The group also tackled some areas along the river where people dumped unwanted items.

“We removed couches and chairs, the equivalent of a whole living room suite,” Anderson said.

The couch turned out to be a home for at least two mice and a garter snake.

“I caught the garter snake and handed it to a 10-year-old who was helping us,” Anderson said while chuckling.

To counter the illegal dumping, the association is considering some options.

“I think we’re going to spend about $1,000 on some surveillance cameras,” Anderson said. “And we’ll put them in places that will help identify who’s doing the dumping.”

“Once people start dumping, it usually keeps happening,” Bressler said.

Anderson said the group appreciates the help and support it receives from volunteers, local businesses and the Spruce Creek United Methodist Church, which serves lunch. PennDOT continues to provides bags, gloves and vests.

The cost of trash disposal, Anderson said, typically falls to the association to pay and it’s likely to be $300 or $400 for Saturday’s collection. Donations to help pay that cost are appreciated and can be made through the organization’s website at www.littlejuniata.org. Bennis and Bressler, who like to fish in the Little Juniata River, said they recognize improvements after 13 years of organized cleanups.

“The encouraging part is that every year, we seem to have at least a little less trash,” Bennis said.

“The river is steadily improving,” Anderson said. “We now have many out-of-state and out-of-area visitors on the river because it’s been ranked as one of the three best trout streams in the East. And I think keeping it clean is a factor in that.”

As for 2019 cleanup, association members offered no doubt about returning the event to the first Saturday in April.

“That’s a much better time, barring another snowstorm,” Anderson said.

Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 946-7456.