Members of the Allentown Hiking Club and Lehigh Gap Nature Center, along with some additional volunteers joined Wildlife Conservation Officer Kevin Halbfoerster of the Pennsylvania Game Commission June 14 to help clean up Bake Oven Knob in Heidelberg Township.

The Knob is a well-known hawk watching site during migrations.

Unfortunately, it is also a well-known party site, Halbfoerster said.

The area for which he is the conservation officer has been decreased.

His coverage area is now only the northern half of Lehigh County, so this gives him more time to work on projects.

Halbfoerster was also given money to pay for supplies and equipment for a cleanup.

"We looked for an access to the trash lower on the mountain but could not find any," he said, adding the Appalachian Trail runs along the top of the mountain near Bake Oven Knob and much of it is rocky.

Along with bags for trash, Halbfoerster brought cans of green, tan, grey and black paint.

As the rocks are graffiti covered, he told the volunteers to work in the middle of the lookouts because there is not enough paint to do everything. "Common sense prevails," he said. "Pick up trash and pile it over there."

He would haul out and dispose of the trash later.

Halbfoerster worked 77 hours on cleanup last year.

"I kept a log," he said. "It is going to become a high priority with a sign board on each parking lot."

There is parking on each side of the Bake Oven Road that goes from Heidelberg Township to East Penn Township by crossing the Blue Mountain.

"The signs will make clear the rules and regulations for people hiking the trail or using the lookouts or partying," he said. "People come from all over because they hear about the area on the Internet.

"All I ask is people respect the property. That's all I ask because otherwise I'll be handing out a lot of tickets."

He told those who were going to paint the color should be chosen for as close to the natural stone color and should be feathered on the edges to give it as natural a look as possible.

Halbfoerster added the Good Will Fire Company, Germansville, answers, on average, two emergency calls a year on the mountain.

Jim Gabovitz of the Allentown Hiking Club and the Nature Center said the graffiti is absolutely atrocious.

"It's not just on Bake Oven Knob," Gabovitz said. "Halbfoerster provided leadership without which we could not do anything as volunteers."

Gabovitz was pleased in some places the paint looked almost natural.

He said they had been there six weeks ago to investigate and since then someone used a gold paint that was difficult to cover.

"I don't know what the answer is,"Gabovitz said.

Director of the Lehigh Gap Nature Center Dan Kunkle commented on the cleanup.

"It was great to see the Hiking Club and Nature Center members out helping," Kunkle said. "Officer Halbfoerster works very hard and we are glad to support him."

John Becker, who posted pictures on a blog, says he really hopes the public awareness cuts down on the amount of trash people leave at the Knob in the future.