Dozens help clean Wabash River wildlife area

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (AP) - Dozens of volunteers pulled truckloads of old tires, mattresses, toilets and old chairs from a stretch of the Wabash River as they worked to clean up the area that is among Indiana's newest wildlife areas.

Some 130 people joined in the cleanup effort on Sunday in the Wabashiki Fish and Wildlife Area near Terre Haute. The wetland area has long been an illegal dump ground but volunteer Brad Adams tells the Tribune-Star that it has been getting cleaner in the past few years.

Adams was among members of Indiana State University's track team who took part in the cleaning up the wildlife area that they visit often for training runs.

The state Department of Natural Resources opened the Wabashiki area with some 2,400 acres two years ago.