30 Pitch In : Scout Leads Cleanup of Park Trails

The trails of Chatsworth Park South were spruced up Saturday as part of a project organized by 13-year-old Kevin Okelberry in his quest to become an Eagle Scout.

Kevin, with the assistance of staff for state Sen. Ed Davis (R-Valencia), pulled together a cleanup crew composed of members of the state Air National Guard, Fire Station 96 in Chatsworth, a towing service, a trash removal company and the Santa Susana Mountains Park Assn., as well as his fellow Boy Scouts and their parents.

Abandoned Cars

The 30-member crew, armed with gloves, sand bags, forklifts and tow trucks, removed trash that ranged from beer bottles to rusty, abandoned cars. Also hauled out during the seven-hour effort were tires, aquariums, socks, sofas and an occasional lizard.

Bill Tanner, Davis’ field representative, said the senator’s office was “really stricken that a 13-year-old candidate for an Eagle Scout badge would take such an interest in the parklands.”

Tanner added that Davis would like to see the park receive more development funds from the state. Kevin’s project is “showing the state that there is community interest,” Tanner said.

Mother Had a Role

Kevin said he got the idea for the project after his mother went hiking along the park’s trails and called the condition of the park to his attention.

“It was really dirty,” Kevin said. “I felt it should be cleaned up.” He said the project took about 100 hours to organize.

Rain delayed the project a week, and even on Saturday storm damage was making the cleanup difficult.

At one point, the still-soggy ground trapped the wheels of an Air National Guard forklift. After about an hour, and with the help of two extra tow trucks, the forklift was finally pulled out of the mud.