Winter is over. We moved the clocks forward (Why do we do that? We are so powerful we can change time!) The ground is beginning to thaw, birds are returning to our backyards and soon we’ll be getting out the lawn furniture and packing away coats.
For many of us involved in the care of our community, our spring cleaning is a little different from the ordinary “connect the hose, wash the windows, and take the winter blankets off the beds” sort of preparation for warm temperatures.
PWTSC (Prince William Trails and Streams Coalition) hosted a cleanup last weekend. Cathy & Rick Holt
Paula, Ryan, and Josh Small , Luis Maldonado, Jim, Linda, and Will Garvey, Zoe Vitter, Earnie Porta, Kelly Jimenez, Bill Moser and I met early on Saturday morning to share the strategy for the cleanup. Jim had already scouted the area and provided photos of some of the debris we’d be collecting. Zoe Vitter had mapped and researched who owns the property and ascertained we’d have permission to clean up this location. Zoe asked me to create a flyer and get the word out to try and get some volunteers on short notice.
Volunteers met at Andrew Leach Park, got safety instructions, discussed how to collect and where to take items for pickup. We then drove to the site and entered a wooded section along Lindendale Road. The volunteers, armed with trash bags and grabbers, worked their way down a ravine and along a section of the Neabsco Creek, back to Saratoga Hunt.
In two short hours, they collected 31 bags of trash, a ladder, a bike, some bike tires, a wading pool, the surround from a trampoline, various 2"x8" boards. They dragged all that stuff back up the ravine to the road and Bill and I hauled it all to the landfill in several trips.
This morning, at 9:00 AM, volunteers will gather at Veteran’s Park in Woodbridge for another attempt to collect the debris that washed into the Marumsco Creek area after the flooding that destroyed most of Holly Acres. This is the fourth attempt to clear the remnants of furniture, toys, lawn equipment and more that burrowed into the mud in Marumsco Creek.
Led by Kelly Jimenez from Prince William Soil and Water Conservation, as part of a series of stream cleanups, PWSWCD is the parent of the Adopt a Stream program. We’ll be working with numerous partners this morning, like PWC Parks and Recreation to complete this effort.
There’s plenty more where this came from and it all runs on volunteers. We need help to clean the streams and creeks as well as wooded areas and banks where winter has deposited all manner of pollutants. Some of it is caused by natural forces like wind and water blowing debris, but all of it is caused by us.
Make your spring cleaning include: Cover all trash cans securely. Do not put plastic bags at the curb or on top of trash cans. If you put recycles out in an open container, secure them. Wind and animals both carry YOUR trash into the street, into the woods, into the storm drains and in some cases, into our drinking water supply.
You can help us by teaching children to properly dispose of trash. You can help us by cleaning up pet waste. (Put it in a bag and take it home to your own trash can.) You can help us by volunteering.
Two events coming up soon are a Cleanup at Neabsco Creek on March 23 and our big annual Occoquan Cleanup on April 13. Take some time to look at the photos, download the flyers, and visit our websites.
Neabsco Action Alliance has a calendar and links to many of our partners, so you can find quite a bit of information in one spot.
If I don’t see you this morning, I hope I’ll be seeing you soon. (By the way, if getting muddy doesn’t sound like fun to you, we’ll have plenty of opportunities all summer for you to make a difference while staying dry. Follow Neabsco Action Alliance on Facebook to keep up!
