Photos: Green-Up Day at the Sand Pit / Gun Range

A collection of trash, shotgun shells, and broken clays littered the Upper Gravel Pit in Danby, Vermont.
Photos by Dave Morse

In keeping with The Orvis Company’s commitment to conservation, Associates from both Sunderland and Manchester ventured out into the local community last week to celebrate Vermont’s annual Green Up Day. Green Up Day is a longstanding Vermont tradition that Orvis takes part in each year, allocating time and energy to the cleaning of the area roadsides. This year, Manchester Outlet Manager Jim Lenway spearheaded an effort to clean up series of long-neglected sand pits, which many locals, Orvis associates among them, use to shoot targets.

Shotgunners have certainly played a role in the process. Pick up your shells!

These abandoned public pits, located fifteen minutes from the Orvis Gun Room and Rod Shop, have provided a safe place for Orvis associates to shoot clay and stationary targets through the seasons. Unfortunately, longstanding and extensive use by area shooters has resulted in the cumulative buildup of trash, and residents in need of a secluded dumping site have added more and more garbage to the pits over the years. Until this past week, the pits, though still extensively used, were littered with broken glass, spent shells, corroding furniture, and a mystifying array of well-shot appliances.

Project organizer Jim Lendway looks like he’s having fun.

On Friday afternoon, a crew of Orvis Associates (all avid shooters) took to the pits armed with rakes, shovels, and trash bags. Local landscaper Lance Chilla trailered his small excavator to the site, and local farmer Eben Proft arrived with a bucket tractor. Waste-management company Casella donated a large dumpster, which, over the course of the afternoon, the cleaning crew filled to overflowing. It was truly remarkable to see the transformation take place, and more than one volunteer noted that without the collective effort of such a team, the cleanup task would seem insurmountable.

Orvis’s Lucas Kent and Dave Langlois did their part.

Under the leadership of Jim Lenway, this effort amounted to a massive improvement for a space enjoyed widely by our local shooting community. It was truly a monumental initiative, and one that will be appreciated widely, both within and beyond the Orvis network.

A friendly neighbor stopped by with her kids to help.

Eben Proft’s tractor came in mighty handy.

From left: Rod Shop Director Don Swanson (left) helps Reid and Kim Bryant bag it up.

Almost there!

The effort required every cubic foot of that dumpster.

A job well done!