WESTFIELD, Mass. (WGGB/WSHM) - A local non-profit organization is getting ready to clean up areas along the Westfield River, we’ll share what this effort means for the environment.

Wednesday is Earth Day, which is right in the middle of earth week, this coming weekend, volunteers will gather in the Westfield and Russell areas to clean up areas along the Westfield River. Western Mass News spoke to one of the leaders of this effort and shared what this means for the environment.

Along several banks of the Westfield River lie pieces of trash. Cans, plastic bags and even bottles either at the edge of the water or in wooded areas. This coming Saturday, however, the Westfield River Watershed Association is doing something about it.

“Everyone will get their equipment, we’ll go out to those sites, and bag up trash,” Mark Damon is the president of the non-profit organization, whose mission since 1952 has been to make the Westfield River watershed a better place to live and promote the restoration and conservation of the watershed’s natural resources. WRWA announced recently another annual cleanup will occur in conjunction with Westfield’s city-wide cleanup.

Damon told Western Mass News these cleanups have occurred for decades, and at least 100 people are expected to participate in this one, “sometimes, we’re pulling hazardous things out of the water (oil or used diapers). And the trash itself is just a physical hazard sometimes to wildlife.”

Multiple areas are expected to be covered, including Jacob’s Ladder Trail in Russell and near the Green Bridge at the end of Meadow Street, an initiative that Damon said can help make people more caring of the environment, “I think the biggest takeaway is to involve people, to have people appreciate the river, to have people feel invested in it.”

Damon is also an Environmental Biology Professor at Westfield State and said any of his students who participate will get extra credit, but his main anticipation is an event like this continuing to make a difference, “I hope that people not only care about the river but develop a larger sense about caring about the environment in general.”

If you are participating in this effort, you are asked to meet at Mount Moriah Lodge on Broad Street at 8:00 a.m. on Saturday morning. There also will be another Westfield River cleanup taking place in Agawam next month.