Come Out and Help Clean Up our Rivers and Streams

volunteers signing up last  year

Spring is finally in the air after a frigid February. Saturday, March 21, 2015 the river cleanup season officially kicks off with the Marumsco Creek cleanup at Veterans Park in Woodbridge. The cleanup is from 9 am to noon and is a great opportunity to help. You can just show up and sign in on the day of the event. Veterans Park is located at 14300 Featherstone Road in Woodbridge, www.pwcparks.org/vetspark. Wear old clothes that you don’t mind getting muddy -long sleeves and rubber boots would be best.

The Marumsco Creek cleanup is the first, but over the next several weeks there will be a series of neighborhood events that are an opportunity to spend a few hours outside with others cleaning up the trash that found its way into our water ways from litter and dumping.

Can’t make the Marumsco Creek cleanup, there are others. On Saturday, April 11th 2015 will be the 6th annual Upper Occoquan River Cleanup. This massive collection of trash from the Occoquan River happens every year and on this side of the river is the combined effort of the Prince William Trails and Streams Coalition, Trash Free Potomac Watershed, Penguin Paddling, Prince William County Parks and Recreation Department and the Prince William Soil and Water Conservation District (where I volunteer as a director.)

volunteers in 2015

The Occoquan River Cleanup is part of the 27th Annual Potomac River Watershed Cleanup coordinated by the Alice Ferguson Foundation working with the region’s soil and water conservation districts, community groups, employers, and schools happens this time of year throughout the region and the biggest day is April 11, 2015. There are many locations and opportunites to join in and help. The Potomac River Watershed Cleanup is the largest regional event of its kind so that you or your group can still participate this year. It is a great single day volunteer opportunity.

Year after year volunteers clean our roadways, streams, rivers, and streambeds of trash that started as litter and carried along by stormwater and wind into our waterways and parks. We also remove items that were illegally dumped in the woods or carried by off by storms. Don’t litter and teach your children not to litter, that is the best way to prevent trash along our roads, streams and waterways. The trash does not magically disappear, but finds its way carried by stormwater to our waterways and parklands disrupting the natural water flow and beauty of our natural world. Come out and help us make our water ways free of trash.