ST. HELEN – Dozens of volunteers participated in a three-day tire cleanup on the trails in and around St. Helen.
Event coordinator Sean Patterson said money for the event came from a scrap tire grant for EGLE, which provided enough money for the three trailers used at the collection site at the Charlton Heston Academy. The St. Helen Snowpackers hosted the trash collection site at their clubhouse.
Patterson said the group collected more than 3,000 tires, so many that the tire machine at the school broke down. C & C Towing of Higgins Lake came through and donated the use of their machine to bust the remaining tires off their rims.
About 300 of the collected tires came out of the ORV trails around St. Helen. The balance came from private residences across the county.
Patterson said students in the welding, auto and construction trades program kicked off the event on Friday, April 19.
CHA instructors, the DNR and volunteers assisted in the effort including Scott Nestle, Craig Pinkleman, Steve Broyles (leader of the trail cleanup crew), Derek Palmer, Mike Richardson, Justin Mann, and Dave Dudley.
The Iron Mustangs helped with staging and providing breakfast for the Jeep trail cleanup crews. Other groups assisting with the event include Great Lakes Four Wheel Drive Association, Tread Lightly, Mountain Goat Off Road, Wicked Jeeps Southeast Michigan, Adopt a Forest Division of the DNR, United States Forest Service, Coyote Crossing Resort, Cadillac Bureau of Tourism, and Twisted UTV’s.
Patterson said he plans to oversee the collection sites again next year.
“We’re planning on a bigger event,” Patterson said. “This will help relieve the financial stress on people when they need to dispose of their tires.”
