SOUTH BOWERS BEACH, Del.- Kate Hackett said she's used to seeing trash and illegally dumped items on Delaware Wild Lands' Milford Neck Nature Preserve.

What Hackett wasn't expecting to find over the Memorial Day weekend was a boat filled with trash.

"This is not something we can just haul away," she said.

Hackett, the executive director of Delaware Wild Lands, said the boat reflects an ongoing problem with trash and illegal dumping at the nonprofit's preserve.

"This becomes a little harder for us to take care of...it's not like picking up a garbage bag full of trash," she said.

Andrew Martin, an ecologist with Delaware Wild Lands, said trash can impact the way animals like horseshoe crabs and birds that visit the preserve interact with the ecosystem.

"It's a system that developed over millions of years," he said.

Delaware's environmental department said the incident was being investigated by Delaware State Police.