SEVERAL ORGANIZATIONS TO COORDINATE PUBLIC LAND CLEANUP
On Sept 27, dozens of volunteers met up at Washington Park’s Otto Dahl Shelter to serve the surrounding area by cleaning up Wyoming’s public lands. Registration was free and lunch was provided to the volunteers.
The Public Lands Day cleanup is an annual event that brings together the community to take care of the surrounding land. The event was a collaboration between Common Outdoor Ground, the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest, Wyoming Conservation Corps, Trail Fairies, and more.
“We have a whole bunch of sites that people can go to work, do trail maintenance, clean up, all sorts of things just to help the community, help nature, help our public lands, ensure that we keep them,” said Lilly Alvia, a student coordinator with UW’s Service Leadership and Community Engagement Office (SLCE).
Through SLCE, the University of Wyoming took part in coordinating this community event, coordinating activities, and providing free transit to UW students. These activities included fence repair and trail clean-up across five locations.
Families, students and all other types of outdoor enthusiasts turned out to this event. According to Wyoming Game and Fish, 48% of the land in our state is federal public land.
“I think [the support comes from] how connected we are to the land in Laramie, how many opportunities we have to go hiking and go on the trails and biking and fishing and all that sort of stuff,” said Alvia.
This event comes in a year of threats to public lands. Then, Wyomingites turned out in droves to support public lands. This event shows that support is not going away.
“[Public lands] are for all of us, and I think it’s just important we’re all community. We’re here to help each other and work together” said David Keto, a volunteer at the event who brought his family to volunteer.
Community was a theme at this event as all different members of the Laramie community, and the University of Wyoming came together to protect what they hold dear.
“Even if we have our differences or anything like that, we can come together, especially for something like this, and work together to fix and help and do all this stuff for the land that we love,” said Alvia. Keto contributes the nature of the Laramie community to the size of the town. Keto has attended the event in the past and wanted to show his family the importance of supporting public lands with others.
“I think just one of the things I appreciate is the size of the community,” said Keto, “It really lends to the community spirit and it’s just big enough that there’s a lot of things going on in Laramie and there’s a lot of opportunities, but I think it’s a small enough place that people stay pretty connected.”
These events help the community connect and encourage people to take advantage of the wonderful Wyoming scenery.
“People are just always very welcoming and it’s a way to expand your network; meet some folks and get outside which is always nice,” said Keto.
As winter approaches, take some time to go out and enjoy our public lands and take care of them while you can.
