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SHAMOKIN     Local environmentalist Dave Kaleta, who has spearheaded a volunteer effort over the past three years to clean up coal lands and alleviate a severe littering problem, will now seek help from state and county officials to stop chronic dumping. 
    Kaleta plans to conduct a tour of mountain areas on Dec. 15 with state Sen. John Gordner (R-27), a representative from the office of state Rep. Robert Belfanti (D-108), Northumberland County Commissioner Kurt Masser and officials from the Pennsylvania Game Commission and state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR). The group will meet at Kaleta's business, Dave's Taxidermy, 146 E. Sunbury St., at 9 a.m. before visiting coal lands stretching from Route 125 north of Burnside to Locust Gap. 
    Kaleta, an active volunteer with Habitat for Wildlife, said the territory, including reclaimed areas, has become littered with garbage. 
    Some of the mine reclamation projects that were recently completed in the local area are becoming dumping grounds, and I want to discuss with the state and county officials what can be done to alleviate the problem, Kaleta said. My goal is to get state and county officials to work together to have the land become part of the Forest Game Project so we can get littering signs posted at the sites and increase patrols in those areas by game commission officials. 
    Kaleta explained that if the land, which is owned by Reading Anthracite Co. and the county, becomes part of the Forest Game Project, volunteers from Habitat for Wildlife would be in charge of overseeing the properties while ownership would still be maintained by the current owners. 
    We're looking to catch people dumping in those areas and, hopefully, stiffer fines and penalties will be administered to violators, he added. We've installed some gates at the sites to keep vehicles away, but people still get up there somehow and dump garbage. 
    Kaleta said 11 people have been cited for illegal dumping in the areas maintained by the local Habitat for Wildlife chapter over the past three years. 
    Kaleta and his small group of volunteers, who oversee 1,000 acres of land owned by the county and Reading Anthracite, have planted 14,000 seedlings, corn and sunflowers and removed approximately 10 tons of trash between Excelsior and Locust Gap in conjunction with the Great Pennsylvania Cleanup effort. 
    The Shamokin businessman is desperately seeking additional volunteers for the group. Anyone interested in becoming part of Habitat for Wildlife is urged to call Kaleta at 644-1547.