By Elizabeth Dubrulle
Correspondent

Friends of the Greenway members Janet Methot, left, and Kelly Von Ruden pick up tires and other garbage on the Goffstown Rail Trail on Saturday, April 23. (Elizabeth Dubrulle Photo)

GOFFSTOWN - Even a cold spring rain could not keep a group of dedicated volunteers from Friends of the Greenway from spending a Saturday morning cleaning up the Goffstown Rail Trail. About 20 people showed up at 9 a.m. on Saturday, April 23, to pick up garbage that had accumulated primarily in two locations on the trail, across the street from the Villa Augustina ball fields and near Moose Club Park Road.

Over the course of three hours, the volunteers filled a department of public works truck, as well as several pickup trucks. They found all sorts of junk on the trail, including carpets, furniture, barbeques, and fences, as well as the usual beer bottles and candy wrappers.

The Friends have tackled the garbage in these areas before. In fact, Saturday was their fourth trail cleanup since October 2003. The third, in August 2004, enlisted the aid of dozens of students from Saint Anselm College, who participated in the effort as part of the school's annual Freshmen Day of Service.

Despite the weather and the volume of waste materials they found on the trail, most volunteers were upbeat about donating their time to such a venture.

"We need individuals like me to get this project proceeding in the right direction," said Phil Rose.

And the group views clearing the trail of unwanted items as one of the first steps in making it a community asset that all can enjoy.

Although some of the garbage picked up has been on the trail for years, the area around the Villa Augustina ball fields has been a persistent problem. The fields themselves are kept tidy by dozens of parent volunteers who donated their time a few weeks ago to get the fields in shape for the start of baseball season. The area across the street from the fields, however, has been a habitual dumping ground for some residents.

"I'm hoping we don't end up picking up this volume of trash in the future," said Lowell Von Ruden, Greenway president. "It's obvious that people are just backing up their pick-up trucks and illegally dumping their junk in this region."

Trail can be used now
Raising public awareness and encouraging residents to use the trail for the purpose it has been intended - recreation - should hopefully diminish the opportunity for people to dump garbage on it.

Eventually, Greenway supporters hope the police department will be allocated the resources to patrol the trail more thoroughly, but in the short term, accessibility limits the department's impact on curtailing those who abuse the trail this way. Nevertheless, the Goffstown Police Department cautions residents that illegal dumping can carry a penalty of up to one year in jail and a fine of $2,500.

It's much better to take unwanted items to the transfer station, said Tom Fatcheric, Goffstown's environmental project manager at the department of public works.

"Unfortunately, there's a small percentage of people out there who just can't see beyond the small fee to dump their stuff at the transfer station," he said.

Residents can dump yard waste at the transfer station for free, while other refuse, including furniture, costs just 5 cents a pound. Major appliances, such as refrigerators and air conditioners, cost a flat fee of $15 to leave at the transfer station, which is open Tuesday through Saturday from 7:30am to 3pm. Fatcheric offered the department's truck to the Greenway volunteers to help them with their cleanup efforts.

"It's a benefit to all of us," he stated. "We are very thankful that there are volunteers out there willing to do this kind of clean up, including all of the groups that donate their time to keep the roads clean."

Fatcheric also hopes increased use of the Rail Trail will result in less garbage dumping along the route.

Increased use of the Rail Trail is precisely what the Friends of the Greenway are banking on during the coming spring, summer, and fall months.

The trail is currently open along its entire course, although some areas need pedestrian bridges for easy use. Nevertheless, walkers, runners, and mountain bikers may still enjoy it, despite its roughness in places.

What's ahead
The Friends, recently revitalized after the completion of a design charrette for the trail that was presented to the board of selectmen back in March, has planned a series of events for the trail this spring in an effort to move work on it forward and encourage residents to use it.

In addition to the group's usual bimonthly meetings, Von Ruden is organizing trips to other rail trails in the region so that people can see what the completed project may look like, as well as a trail walk and associated events on National Trails Day on Saturday, June 4.

Perhaps most important to the trail's progress is the convening of a trail steering committee, led by Selectman Barbara Griffin. The group comprises members from several major departments of the town government, including planning, parks and recreation, public works, police, and fire, a representative from the Friends of the Greenway and one from trail abutters, several of whom have concerns about a public trail running alongside their property.

With only a single meeting under its belt, the steering committee hopes to address abutters - concerns and begin fleshing out a design and timeline for the trail's construction in the next few months, as well as investigate funding sources to complete the work.

The steering committee meetings are open to the public, and information about meeting times and locations is available from the selectmen's office in town hall.

The Friends of the Greenway welcomes new members at its next meeting, to be held on Monday, May 9, at 7pm at Travers Village Eatery.

The group also has a Web site at http://home.comcast.net/~thegreenway/ with more information about the Goffstown Rail Trail.