Area residents take part in the Northern Michigan University Conservation Crew’s cleanup day on Saturday, a kickoff event to Anderton’s Earth Week. Christine Oaks of Gwinn, Lenny and Cheri Shible of Marquette Township, and Margaret Brumm of Marquette, worked together in the area around the YMCA of Marquette County along Fair Avenue in Marquette. Among other items, Oaks picked up two plastic cigarette lighters, Brumm said, while Cheri Shible used the movement involved in the cleanup as her weekend physical therapy. Brumm said cigarette butts were the most common item they picked up while the most unusual item was a discarded sock in two pieces. The most dangerous items they gathered were discarded masks and plastic rings, Brumm said, noting when wildlife gets entangled in this type of garbage, it can kill them. Anderton’s Earth Week is named after the late John Anderton, a former head of the Northern Michigan University Department of Earth, Environmental and Geological Sciences. The entire schedule of Earth Week events can be accessed through the NMU Conservation Crew website at https://nmuconservationcre.wixsite.com/nmucc/general-8. (Photos courtesy of Margaret Brumm)