Volunteers Lorie Hickox, Mike Reynolds, Alyshia Zicolick, Tausha Hall, Sarah Sotherden, Kathy Hunter, Fred Blanchard and Ute Duncan plant tulips as part of the Adopt-a-Trail program along the Erie Canal in the Town of Sweden. Volunteers from seven community groups clean up along the canal path once a month from May through October.

More than 60 persons took part in the Adopt-a-Trail end-of-the-season "sweep" in the Town of Sweden in October. They helped to inaugurate a state-wide program, modeled on the Adopt-a-Highway program, intended to improve the cleanliness and appearance of the Erie Canal towpath. The town board is sponsoring the effort within the town limits.

Participants in the program are members of seven groups, each of which took responsibility for a section of the canal in the town. They are the Brockport Federal Credit Union, the Brockport High School girls swim team, the First Presbyterian Church of Brockport, the Brockport Middle School retirees, the Walk and Talks walking group, SUNY Brockport "Make a Difference" volunteers, and the Coffee Cup Campers. In addition to the usual clean-up work, the SUNY students planted tulips along the north bank of the canal between the Park Avenue and Smith Street bridges.

The organizing committee agreed that each group should follow a tentative schedule for the 2002 season of one cleanup a month from May through October. Because the student group will not be available during the summer, another group will be recruited to take responsibility for the Park Avenue-Smith Street section. Prospective volunteers should contact the program coordinator, Bill Andrews at 637-3721 or wandrews@frontiernet.net or Ute Duncan, the Village of Brockport representative on the committee.