Renaissance Lac Brome sticks to its mission with a cleanup of Cold Brook
Renaissance Lac Brome (RLB), a non-profit organization devoted to protecting Brome Lake and its watershed, organized a clean-up of Cold Brook, located in the heart of Knowlton in Coldbrook Park, last Tuesday. The group removed a large quantity of trash from the stream, including several tires.
From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., nine RLB volunteers and employees walked the stream over a distance of 2.5 km to collect refuse present in the stream and its shore. The collection was impressive and pickup included 21 tires, including tractor and truck tires, a bed frame, posters, antiques, clothing, plastic jars, glass and ceramic tableware being collected.
RLB members rode the stream equipped with a canoe to haul the tires while others were armed with trash bags to pick up the trash. Public works employees from the Town of Lac-brome also came by at the end of the day to pick up materials for environmental disposal.
“We expected to find a few tires, plastic bags, glass, but never so many tires or antique objects,” said Anaïs Renaud, project manager for RLB.
This section of Cold Brook starts from the Du Moulin pond in the town centre and empties into Brome Lake nearly 3 km further after crossing a large part of the urban area. Ancient finds demonstrated the central place the creek has occupied in the development of Knowlton. Pieces of pottery dating from old power lines have been found as well as horseshoes and old tools.
“I’m very happy to have done this action for the lake. We were tired at the end of the day but satisfied to have taken so much garbage out of the brook,” says Hélène Drouin, President of RLB.
After what was described in the press release as a success, the Renaissance Lac Brome team is thinking of repeating its stream cleaning initiative in future years.