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Some would say that conservation is everyone’s responsibility.

For those with an environmental conscience, an opportunity will soon be available to put their beliefs into action.

Next Tuesday, Aug. 8, the Strodes Creek Clean-Up event will occur at the stream along Barnes Drive, beginning at 9:30 a.m.

While volunteers from all over are welcome, the event is a creation of the City of Winchester Stormwater Program.

“We try to clean up the Barnes Drive stream. It is a tributary of Strodes Creek,” said Shanda Cecil, Winchester Stormwater Coordinator. “We hope to have a good turnout. It’d be great if there’s no trash, but if there is, we’d certainly want to rid the creek of that trash.”

Last year, as in many other years, various commonly found items were littered near the creek.

Among them were paper bags, plastic cups, pop bottles, food wrappers, and even unique items such as construction materials, empty prescription bottles and car tires.

“[Many of] those things fly easily in the air and are deposited in our streams,” Cecil said.

While hopes are high, they expect they will find at least some products that need to be picked up.

However, especially with volunteers staying away from areas of heavy brush or where small critters may frequent, less cause for worry is present.

“Unfortunately, even though you do it annually, there’s still trash,” Cecil added. “If you have younger kids, it’s fairly safe for them. It’s away from traffic.”

Though the stream along Barnes Drive and Strodes Creek might initially appear minor, their impact can grow in ways unseen by those in Clark County.

Through various watersheds, litter could eventually find its way as far as the Gulf of Mexico, causing pollution to the ocean as well.

Litter also threatens to cause issues such as obstructing water flow.

“You think that, ‘Oh, it’s just one piece of trash,’…but when you multiply that over a multitude of watersheds, by the time our stream reaches even the Ohio River, what we’ve done here in Clark County really can affect the mussel populations, the stream populations, [and] just the water quality in general,” Cecil said. “If it makes its way into the Mississippi [River] and even the Gulf of Mexico, then we’ve really contributed to the large pollution problem.”

Positively, Cecil has seen growth, even acknowledging that a friend of hers organized a stream clean-up for their birthday.

Others are welcome to do so too.

“We always encourage people to have their own clean-up,” she said. “We would be happy to provide bags and gloves if they did want to do such a thing. They can just contact my office and we would be happy to get those materials to people.”

T-shirts marking participation in the event will be provided.

For more information, Shanda Cecil can be contacted at 859-355-1084 or scecil@winchesterky.gov.