Environment

Following much debate on whether the tires were common trash or part of the rivers habitat, Mike Pavlic recieves the go ahead to remove the tires from the river.

Article from www.pittsburghlive.com, by The Valley Independent

Mike Pavlic was canoeing on the Youghiogheny River with his dad Dave last summer when they floated past what appeared to be hundreds of tires in the water and lining the banks just downstream from the Cedar Creek boat launch in Rostraver Township.

He was so disturbed by what he saw that he asked his dad to contact Westmoreland Cleanways the following week to report the dumping and to find out if there was any way they could be cleaned up. Mike Pavlic, a Belle Vernon Area High School student, offered to organize the cleanup himself.

Westmoreland Cleanways had long known about the tires but had gotten conflicting answers from the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission about what to do with them.

One opinion was that once the tires had settled into the river bottom and filled with sediment, they became habitat, and that more harm could be done trying to remove them than by leaving them in the water.

However, prompted again by Pavlic's request, Ellen Keefe, Westmoreland Cleanways Executive Director, consulted with former board member Ron Evancho, Waterways Conservation Officer with the Fish and Boat Commission, requesting a definitive answer.

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