Multiple state parks throughout Niagara County are gearing up for some spring cleaning this weekend.
On Saturday, volunteer crews with rakes and gloves in hand will be spiffing up the grounds at the state parks in Niagara Falls, Wilson and Barker.
“It’s like taking care of your own backyard,” Angela Berti, state parks director of public affairs, said.
The 13th annual I Love My Park Day is organized by Parks & Trails New York in partnership with the state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation and the Department of Environmental Conservation.
More than 150 events will take place, providing opportunities for New Yorkers to clean up their favorite parks and shorelines, plant trees and gardens, restore trails and wildlife habitat, remove invasive species and work on various site improvement projects.
Will Cote, PTNY program director, said that this year’s I Love My Park Day events are a part of “a larger suite of events” throughout the year to celebrate the state park system’s centennial.
“It’s nice to have a tangible, fun and relatively easy way to give back to the spaces we maybe take for granted or don’t recognize as we should,” Cote said.
Cote also noted that the events and visitation at the parks have continued to increase. More than 84 million visitors to state parks were logged in 2023 alone.
“Those have increased over the last few years, particularly over the pandemic when many people found their park for the first time,” Cote said.
This year, Niagara Falls State Park is hosting a litter pickup event, from Prospect Point to Goat Island, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Supplies such as gloves, buckets and stick pickers will be provided, park manager Lindsey Presti said.
According to Berti, Niagara Falls State Park fielded 30 volunteers for last year’s cleanup effort and 20 have already signed up so far this year.
Golden Hill State Park in Barker will host a beach cleanup, brush pickup and trail maintenance along the park’s grove of oak trees from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m.
Park manager Renee Campbell said about 50 volunteers are registered so far, about half of the usual number that sign up for the annual cleanup effort.
“The volunteers make a big difference,” Campbell said.
Wilson-Tuscarora Park is hosting a beach cleanup event from 10 a.m. to noon.
For more information about, and to sign up for, I Love My Park Day, go to https://parks.ny.gov/events/my-park-day.aspx.