This year’s creek cleanup was held on April 5, and 156 volunteers working at 11 cleanup sites picked up 171 bags of trash, 14 tires, seven shopping carts, and much more.
Mostly, we retrieved the usual trash and recyclables: water bottles and beverage containers, fast food packaging, trash bags full of dirty diapers, cigarette butts, construction debris and metal fencing, couch cushions and broken furniture, etc. Volunteers in Gum Springs found a raw rack of ribs, and oddly enough, volunteers just across Richmond Highway in Audubon Estates found a raw turkey. Large hunks of raw and rotted meat?—that’s a new one for us; there must be a story behind it. Volunteers encountered more hazardous waste than usual: six large jugs of motor oil at Janna Lee Avenue bridge, and a magazine of live 5.56 mm ammunition (machine guns) at Riverside Park. (Luckily the troop leader was a former marine so she knew what it was and took it for proper disposal.)
For the first time in all the years we’ve been doing this, volunteers in kayaks, paddleboards, and boats ventured out onto the mighty Potomac, and along with plenty of trash, managed to pull out a 75’ long heavy-duty plastic pipe that had to be cut into pieces before they could get it out of the river.
This was our 23rd annual cleanup, and it was another stellar effort by long term volunteers as well as newbies. Thanks to newcomers Alyssa Schaaf, who helped organize the cleanup and led the effort at Riverside Park, Dan Murrin, who instigated the foray out into the Potomac, and Dean Naujoks of Potomac Riverkeepers. Thanks to site leaders who’ve pitched in for years (going on decades?) including Bryan Birch, Greg Crider, Jennifer Giunta, Renee Grebe, Mark Miller, Donna Stauffer, Senator Surovell and Fatimah Dandashi. Thanks to elected officials Senator Scott Surovell, Delegate Paul Krizek, and Supervisor Rodney Lusk, who not only showed up but have worked to introduce measures to reduce trash in Little Hunting Creek. Thanks to Fairfax County and National Park Service for hauling the trash away.
Thanks to all the participating groups for their support, including the Care for Creation team of Good Shepherd Catholic Church, Cub Scout Troop 1509, Defensores de la Cuenca, Friends of Little Hunting Creek, Girl Scout Troop 53129, Hayfield Honor Society, Nature Forward, Office of Senator Scott Surovell, Potomac Riverkeepers, and United Community. As always, current and former residents of neighborhoods near the creek (including Audubon Estates, Gum Springs, Riverside Estates, Stratford Landing, Stratford Landing on the Potomac, Tauxemont, Waynewood, Wessynton, and Williamsburg Manor) stepped up to organize cleanups and volunteer.
In these uncertain times, it’s a comfort and inspiration to once again join together to clean up Little Hunting Creek. It leaves me feeling grateful to all of our volunteers, heartened by the satisfaction of a community effort, and inspired by the beauty of the creek when the trash is gone. I hope you feel that way too.
Thanks to all.
