The MTSU Stormwater Program is calling for student volunteers and others across campus to assist with upcoming cleanup events on campus and around the city of Murfreesboro.

On Thursday, April 7, the program will conduct a massive cleanup effort at Garrison Creek, which was previously adopted by the Stormwater Program and already has benefited from student volunteer hours that revitalized the area by planting trees and establishing a tree buffer.

On March 18, 23, and 25, the MTSU Stormwater Program held three separate cleanup events where students from Dr. Mark Abolins’ geoscience class picked up trash across campus. (Photos courtesy of the MTSU Stormwater Program)

• The Stormwater Program will set up a tent at 9 a.m. April 7 in the Kroger parking lot located at 2050 Lascassas Pike near the creek in east Murfreesboro. Cleaning efforts are expected to last until around noon. Volunteers are not required to pre-register.

• On Friday, April 8, the program will partner with the United Way of Rutherford and Cannon Counties for the MTSU rain garden cleanup event. A tent will be set up in the parking lot of the Tennessee Livestock Center, located on Greenland Drive.

Clean-up will last from 9 a.m. to noon and will include picking up trash, planting trees and possibly removing invasive plants around the gardens at the livestock center and horticulture facility.

• On Saturday, April 16, the Stormwater Program will work with the MTSU Office of Student Organizations and Service and the university’s Student Government Association to help clean up Lytle Creek for National Parks Day.

Organizers say that volunteers for these events should wear long pants and closed-toe shoes and should bring insect repellant and reusable water bottles.

Environmental engineer and program organizer Shelia Knight said she expects a huge turnout for each event, especially the Lytle Creek clean-up at Old Fort Park around Fortress Rosecrans and the Lytle Creek Greenway.

“We’re expecting a large crowd for the National Parks Day,” she said. “This event could have over 400 volunteers, and about 200 of those are MTSU students.”

These efforts are part of the program’s ongoing efforts this spring to keep the MTSU campus beautiful and help protect the environment. On March 18, 23, and 25, the Stormwater Program held three separate cleanup events where students from Dr. Mark Abolins’ geoscience class picked up trash across campus.

Knight estimated that students picked up nearly 25 pounds of trash each day as they covered roughly half of the campus.

Fore more information, including how to sign up and what to bring, can be found at www.mtsu.edu/stormwater.

— Steven Michael Johnson (news@mtsu.edu)

In this undated file photo, a volunteer plants tree seedlings along Garrison Creek in east Murfreesboro. Another tree planting and cleanup is scheduled for Thursday, April 7. (MTSU file photo)

In this March 2015 file photo, MTSU student volunteers show the fruits of their labor at the Rutherford Boulevard parking lot after they joined others picking up litter on campus as part of the MTSU Stormwater Program’s cleanup event. (Submitted photo)