Still, the part-time Florida resident blended in perfectly with the others, who were dressed in drab and sloshed around in heavy rubber waders and gloves that resembled those worn by welders. Working side-by-side, the group of approximately 30 volunteers scooped trash and cleared debris from Coles Brook, a tributary to the Hackensack River.

"I’m always doing this stuff," said Brumale, who returned to the city last Thursday from her six-month retreat to the Sunshine State. Brumale said she spends half of the year in Florida and the spring and summer months at her home in Hackensack.

"I don’t do river cleanups in Florida, mainly because of all the gators," she said.

"But when I come back to Hackensack, I always go out in my kayak."

Coles Brook and Staib Park isn’t large enough to support watercraft, so Brumale and the other volunteers worked by hand, scouring the woods and swift-moving water for garbage and any wayward material.

According to Capt. Bill Sheehan, whose organization Hackensack Riverkeeper organized the event, the park was relatively clean when compared with previous years’ events at that location. He was surprised that the volunteers didn’t come across any discarded tires.

"But the group still picks up a lot of other big things," Sheehan said.

Large planks of plywood were retrieved from the Paramus side of the brook, which borders Route 4. The workers also pulled up bottles and cans, as well as sandwich wrappers and cigarette butts.

The big catches included buckets of cement, air conditioner parts, a computer printer and a large aquarium. Brumale said some of the volunteers located but were unable to extricate a buried shopping cart.

"It’s sad when residents have to come here to dump things," said Sheehan. "Instead of using the energy to come here, they can use the same amount of effort to go to the DPW, which will get rid of the trash properly."

"But it’s still not as bad as it used to be."

Time was

Hackensack Riverkeeper first focused its attention on Coles Brook at Staib Park approximately five years ago. The waterway was in bad shape, Sheehan said, mainly because no one had regularly monitored the conditions of the park.

The playing fields attracted a large volume of vehicle traffic, which caused a major problem since the parking lot pavement was directly adjacent to the brook. And litter from both sides of the brook often found its way to the water.

"People from the fields often crossed the brook and went to the restaurants along Route 4," said Sheehan.

"When they came back with their sandwiches, they would just dump the wrappers in the water or in the woods."

Sheehan and Hackensack Riverkeeper volunteers, which include cleanup coordinator Lisa Ryan, traced some of the garbage to the businesses on Route 4. Along Coles Brook, they found furniture plastic and food wrappers bearing the logos of nearby fast food restaurants. At least three furniture stores and two restaurants are located a stone’s throw from the water.

"We had the DEP issue letters to those businesses," said Sheehan, who added that litter still gathers along the brook, but not nearly as much as it once did.

Improvement needed

In addition to ridding Staib Park and Coles Brook of trash, Hackensack Riverkeeper targeted the area as a location in need of major repair. The first step was to push the parking lot back several feet by tearing out blacktop.

"We replaced it with soil," said Sheehan, who along with landscapers planted several non-invasive species to act as a buffer between the parking lot and the brook.

Hackensack Riverkeeper then installed large rocks within the landscape with hopes of easing the effects of runoff from the parking lot and fields.

"They’re there to slow down erosion. So much water comes down from the lot and would cause so much erosion that trees would fall over into the brook. Then debris would get caught behind the tree and create a dam," Sheehan explained.

He considered the project one of Hackensack Riverkeeper’s proudest accomplishments.

"We’re very proud of it. No one in Hackensack, to my knowledge, has tried an ecological restoration project like this," he said.

But when volunteers arrived at the park last Saturday, they discovered the rocks that had been installed were moved and tossed into the brook. As a result, the banks were exposed, increasing the likelihood of erosion. On top of that, the rocks had trapped silt and debris, creating a mini dam.

"The water was just stagnant when we arrived," said Sheehan.

While others removed trash from the park, Ryan and another group of volunteers spent two hours retrieving the rocks from the brook and returned them to their original location.

"People try to build a path to get to the other side," Sheehan said. "They don’t understand the purpose of these rocks."

As the final stone was reset, Sheehan and Brumale beside Coles Brook, which was now moving rapidly toward the Hackensack River.

"In a four-hour cleanup, we’ll definitely get visible results," Sheehan said, a pile of blue plastic bags filled with trash some 20 yards behind them. Mayor Jorge Meneses then emerged from the woods carrying another bag of garbage that he collected.

He held up his bag, smiled in the captain’s direction and called out to Sheehan.

"Every little bit helps."