Hundreds of Girl Scouts and their families will be out with rakes and bags to clean up leaves and other fall debris at Plymouth’s Hilde Performance Center and Parkers Lake cemetery on Sat., Oct. 13. The effort is just one of many throughout 49 counties in Minnesota and Wisconsin, as the organization celebrates 100 years of scouting.

The Girl Scouts have set a goal to clean up enough organic debris to prevent 20,000 pounds of phosphorus from entering area lakes and streams. Phosphorus is the nutrient that feeds algae. If the scouts reach their goal, their efforts will prevent the growth of ten million pounds of algae.

Measuring the Impact
The Girl Scouts worked with the Freshwater Society to measure the impact of their work. The Freshwater Society and the University of Minnesota developed a website to calculate the phosphorus collected, based on the number of bags of grass clippings, leaves and trash picked up.

Make an Impact
Everyone is encouraged to join the Girl Scout effort to protect our lakes. So, join the Girl Scouts on October 13 by cleaning up leaves, litter and other debris. Count the number of bags you fill, and then go to freshwater.org/report to make sure your efforts are counted.