PoestenKill Gorge Park – May 7th Cleanup Event

The Dig The Falls Cleanup Event was rained out… Wait! No, it wasn’t!

We had some hard-core volunteers join us on this event and we couldn’t have been more proud to host such a great cleanup effort.

“The lack of signage and other park amenities shows that this park could really use some appreciation!”

The Poestenkill Gorge Park is home to one of the citie’s largest and, possibly, least known natural wonders; Mt. Ida Falls (aka Poestenkill Falls and High Falls). Sitting in a historic area of the city, this location has been long forgotten, except for locals and the ongoing soon-to-be-rescued RPI students unfamiliar with enjoying our beautiful natural areas responsibly (obviously an over-generalization, but you get the point). The lack of signage and other park amenities shows that this park could really use some appreciation!

With the weather on the sketchy side, we didn’t expect too many volunteers to show up, especially with kids in tow, but we got a really great turnout. We were also blessed with some current and former members of the New York State police, along with some long time followers of Dig The falls. Thank you!!

Stats for this particular event

Volunteers:
8 Adults and 3 Children
The youngest volunteer was 2 years old 🙂

Total Cleanup Time:
About an hour and a half

Total refuse collected:
Close to 100 pounds!
This was mostly glass, but also included cans, leashes, random trash and what was assumed to be a miniature meth lab…

Best find of the day:
Found by Catherine – What appeared to be an old “parachute”

Costs (rough numbers):
Food and drink – $85
Cleanup supplies – $150
Donations: $26 – This does not take into account the value of everyone’s time, which is priceless!

“Thank you to all who participated in the survey!”

After the event, we sent out a survey asking what everyone thoughts. Overall everyone felt the event was very successful. There was some feedback that our directions and communication needed additional effort, so we will be putting together more details and materials for the next event! Thank you to all who participated in the survey!

Overall we were very fortunate to get to meet some new faces and get the support we generated for the cleanup effort. It was a humbling experience for me to see so many people showing passion toward something I feel strongly about.

Please share this blog with anyone you can. The more people we can bring to the next event, the better 🙂
Also, feel free to offer up a dollar if you liked our story and want to contribute to the next cleanup effort.

$1 donation using PayPal
$5 donation using PayPal
Custom donation using Paypal

For other ways to help feel free to contact us directly!

For more information on New York State waterfall locations, please visit out New York waterfalls map.