Trash and vandalism leave a negative mark on Twin Silos Park, a place Fossil Ridge High School students use as an extension of the school.

Throughout the morning and after lunch, City of Fort Collins Park Technician Aleas Robertson and his team spend most of their time cleaning up.

“We do a lot of ground litter picking after those times. We have had tons of vandalism, and I can definitely say it is kind of discouraging,” said Robertson, who is in charge of managing parks workers on the east side of Fort Collins, including Twin Silos.

“Community goers usually keep the park pretty clean. But we do see an uptick of litter in the summer and during the school year,” said Robertson.

The city has received complaints about park equipment in disrepair at Twin Silos, he said. Though repairs are made, some parents still do not feel comfortable letting their kids play on the playground alone.

“I’m too worried what they’re gonna find, what they’re gonna run into, like, what if they’re on the climbing net, and that net was damaged earlier in the day,” said parent and teacher Christi Thomas, who spends time at Twin Silos coaching her daughter’s soccer team and spending time with her children. 

As a Fossil teacher, Thomas sees the trash and knows its origin. 

“It’s clearly like school lunch trash. Even trays are left there from the school,” said Thomas.

The trash also extends into the stream that runs through the park, which raises Robertson’s concern for area wildlife.  

”We’ve actually documented a lot of those species, just so we kind of know what all is on our property,” he said. “And I just know that when there’s trash in the creek, it can pollute their habitat.” 

All of these concerns may leave people wondering if any actions have been taken by the school in order to fix this issue.

The messes at the park do not surprise Fossil Ridge administration because of the messes students leave around school property as well. 

“Breaking the equipment or acting inappropriately, those sorts of things have been more on my radar than the trash,” said Melissa Stapleton, Dean of Students. “Not that the trash doesn’t matter.” 

Robertson enjoys his job and loves leaving the community with a calm, clean space to enjoy, but would like students to remind themselves of the responsibilities they had learned early on in life.

“Just, leave it how you found it. I think that’s stuff that, you know, we were all taught in school,” said Robertson.