Keeping the grass cut and leaves cleaned up may not seem like much, but it all adds up in Beech Bottom.

The town was one of six West Virginia communities named as a winner of the 2009 Clean Communities Award from the state Department of Environmental Protection.

"We put a lot of hard work in, but we realized that there were several communities competing for the award so we were happy to be named one of the winners," said Greg Sheperd, Beech Bottom councilman.

Sheperd said a playground is one of the community beautification projects they're working on. They’ve also applied for a recycling grant and are working to replace the village's signs.

Paul Cunningham, who's lived in the community nearly his whole life, said he notices and appreciates the effort. Cunningham, who was cleaning up leaves Friday, is one of many taking an active part in keeping the village clean.

Sheperd said he hopes the community will continue to "be proactive and think positively."

"It's gotten us this far. (Let's) continue to be engaged and I think we can accomplish things like this years to come," he said.

Bluefield, Dunbar, Fayetteville, Ranson and West Union were the other five West Virginia communities honored for their efforts to beautify and clean up.

Each community will receive two road signs designating them as clean communities.