Friends of Accotink Creek
Potomac Watershed Cleanup
March & April, 2012

Thanks to all the Friends of Accotink Creek who joined the Potomac Watershed Cleanup along our 12 adopted stretches of Accotink Creek in 2010. Thanks to all their efforts, we together removed 256 bags of trash, 15 tires, and junk ranging from a traffic stoplight to a fountain soda CO2 tank.

Our Mar 31, 2012 stream cleanups:

A mild and sunny day made outdoor work pleasant. Even though we had a modest turnout, the day went well enough.

Three volunteers came to the Fullerton Road site, including the gentleman who resides under the bridge there. We found a 32" TV someone had recently pitched down the slope of the Costco parking lot, perhaps after buying a flat-screen replacement inside. The weight of all the lead in the cathode ray tube made it quite a challenge to haul back up to street level.

We had eight volunteers at the Franconia-Springfield Parkway site. That afforded us enough manpower to clean up the adjacent Hooes Road illegal dumpsite. We found quite a variety of items there - a toilet tank, eleven one-gallon paint cans (mostly full), a stereo speaker, half a bench, a mailbox, auto bumpers, and a traffic stoplight. There is also quite a bit of dumped yard debris there, but it seemed best to just let it be.
Cleanups of illegal dumpsites like this are the special challenge of LET'S DO IT! VIRGINIA

Our Telegraph Road site was, as usual, the loneliest place on Accotink Creek. It was just two of us there, cleaning up several "rafts" of accumulated bottles and styrofoam left high and dry after water levels dropped.

We enjoyed another mild and sunny day, but breezy conditions compelled us to furl our tent at the latter two cleanup sites to prevent it overturning.

We had a good turnout for our first site, Fairfax Boulevard, 26 volunteers, including several members of Phi Sigma Pi from GMU. Good ally Colin Riley of the Isaac Walton League turned out. Unique finds were in order at this site, including a toilet, two bicycles, and an empty tank of air conditioning refrigerant. 480 pounds of new bagged garden mulch were inexplicably left by the bridge.

At Chain Bridge Road, we had 24 volunteers. Delegate Dave Bulova joined us along with his daughter. Unusual finds here included a push scooter and a Verizon manhole cover. Colin Riley gave us a depressing talk about the dismal realities of local recycling.

At our last site, Old Lee Hwy, the crowds dwindled considerably. It was just three of us. The trash here was all routine - the usual plastic bottles and plastic bags - except for the hundreds of golf balls that litter the stream bottom next to the Army-Navy Country Club.

We again benefited from sunny weather, but parking was tight in Wakefield Park due to the many baseball games going on. We hope no volunteers became discouraged and turned back. We also hope no volunteers were unable to find their way due to a bad directions link on our website. Turnout was good, with 34 volunteeers, including National Honor Society members from Edison High School. Three volunteers, overcome with zeal, stretched a bit too far and got dunked up to their knees or beyond. The cost was worthwhile for one wet volunteer, who retrieved a bicycle still in good condition that another volunteer will donate to World Bicycle Relief. An mysterious find was a pile of five hypodermic syringes, still in sealed packaging.

Surprisingly, the morning cleanup organized by Lake Accotink Park had a turnout of ony about 50, far below the hundreds who usually show up.

Elsewhere in our watershed, Jack Buckley, the protector of Hunters Branch, led the cleanup of that tributary, while Rick Ayers organized the cleanup of Southside Park in Vienna along the Bear Branch tributary. Unfortunately Southside Park also encountered parking conflicts with baseball.

Remember to remind your groups of the importance of proper cleanup during and after all outdoor activities.

Reduce, Recycle, Reuse!

In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous. - Aristotle

The promised downpours and thunderstorms postponed their arrival until after the completion of our last site, giving us another fine sunny day.

Turnout was high for our first site, Thaiss Park on Pickett Road, with 70 volunteers, including groups from NVCC,The North Face, Girl Scout Troop 3956, and Cub Scout Pack 1113. Karen Bushaw-Newton led the group of NVCC students. We found mostly routine items, although Karen's group cleaned up an abandoned homeless camp and other volunteers pulled out a manhole cover so heavy it had to be left along the trail for Fairfax City Public Works to retrieve.

At our second site, Barkley Road, we also had a high turnout of 53 volunteers. The same group of volunteers from The North Face joined us again, along with Talia Schmitt and her Woodson High School Environmental Club. We had another group of Girl Scouts, too, but didn't get their troop number. The Girls Scouts tackled one particularly large trash accumulation left by flooding, hauling out 15 bags from that spot alone. Unusual finds here included a vaccuum cleaner and a fountain drink carbon-dioxide tank. Our haul of six tires was also surpisingly high.

For our last site of the day, Woodburn Road, we still had a respectable turnout of 18 volunteers. Cub Scout Pack 1140 also participated here. There was mostly just the usual refuse here - but the owner of the pasture adjacent to the trail did come out to express appreciation and tell us a bit about the history of her home - built in the 1930's by the Japanese Embassy from the very logs cleared to create the pasture.

Randi Kruger of the Washington Kayak Club led 10 paddlers and two shore cleaners on an aquatic cleanup of the far reaches of Lake Accotink and shared her experience - "I wish we had been able to count the bottles etc, but it turned out that maneuvering a kayak, a trash pole, and carrying a trash bag full of trash was all we were capable of. I tried to keep a mental count of the plastic bottles but lost track. There was a shocking amount of cooler-style Styrofoam. They should not sell those things anymore, what a mess." See Randi's photos.

The weather was overcast and a bit on the chilly side, but still fine for working outdoors. An entire cleanup season without getting rained on!

Our first site, King Arthur Road, saw a turnout of 32 volunteers, including groups from The North Face, Girl Scout Troop 4332, Longfellow Middle School, and the NVCC Green Club. The North Face volunteers found a gas tank still containing fuel and brought it out of the woods to the trail, but found it too heavy to bring back to our starting point.

As we were getting started at our second site, Little River Turnpike, we were met by members of the Annandale Lions Club, returning from tree planting and carrying the gas tank in their wheelbarrow. We took the tank off their hands and let the Park Authority know they have a special disposal situation. We had 27 volunteers, including The North Face group again, along with Girl Scout Troop 6416. The intrepid North Face volunteers raised the long-sought wreckage of the "Titanic of the Accotink" (an inflatable dinghy). We were also able to eliminate several huge plastic tarps that had been an eyesore in Americana Park for months, no doubt a gift of the HOT Lanes construction upstream.

Follow the Friends of Accotink Creek motto and "Find just one other person who cares".

Contact us, E-mail.

All Friends of Accotink Creek activities earn student Community Service hours!

See all our cleanup photos on our FACEBOOK page!

Since 1989, the Alice Ferguson Foundation has spearheaded the Potomac Watershed Cleanup. Now the largest regional event of its kind, the cleanup has engaged over 40,000 volunteers and 300 partners and removed more than 1500 tons of trash from the Potomac Watershed.

GET YOUR BRAIN WET! Join Friends of Accotink Creek in next year's Potomac Watershed Cleanup in April, 2013 and the International Coastal Cleanup in September & October,2012! Contact us, E-mail.

Learn more about Clean Virginia Waterways

See and hear a message of thanks from the beneficiaries of volunteer stream stewardship! See all our cleanup photos on our FACEBOOK page!

Potomac Watershed Cleanup Stream Cleanup Results	Spring 2009 Participants & Trash removed	Spring 2010 Participants & Trash removed	Spring 2011 Participants & Trash removed	Spring 2012 Participants & Trash removed
Accotink Creek at Chain Bridge Road	16 volunteers 23 bags	21 volunteers 15 bags	51 volunteers 29 bags	23 volunteers 6 bags
Accotink Creek at Fairfax Blvd	7 volunteers 16 bags	14 volunteers 14 bags	26 volunteers 32 bags	26 volunteers 32 bags
Accotink Creek at Old Lee Hwy	3 volunteers 11 bags	3 volunteers 7 bags	19 volunteers 23 bags	2 volunteers 8 bags
Accotink Creek at Pickett Road	14 volunteers 22 bags	23 volunteers 27 bags	59 volunteers 46 bags	70 volunteers 61 bags
Accotink Creek at Barkley Drive	7 volunteers 10 bags	15 volunteers 25 bags	55 volunteers 57 bags	53 volunteers 41 bags
Accotink Creek at Prosperity Ave	4 volunteers 8 bags	Adopted by HDR|e2M	Adopted by HDR|e2M	Adopted by HDR|e2M
Accotink Creek at Woodburn Road	14 volunteers 28 bags	22 volunteers 21 bags	9 volunteers 13 bags	18 volunteers 17 bags
Accotink Creek at King Arthur Road	23 volunteers 17 bags	9 volunteers 16 bags	2 volunteers 7 bags	32 volunteers 17 bags
Accotink Creek at Little River Turnpike	12 volunteers 22 bags	28 volunteers 31 bags	3 volunteers 7 bags	27 volunteers 25 bags
Accotink Creek at Braddock Road	21 volunteers 25 bags	21 volunteers 20 bags	69 volunteers 43 bags	34 volunteers 28 bags
Accotink Creek at Franconia-Springfield Pkwy	7 volunteers 11 bags	12 volunteers 16 bags	8 volunteers 21 bags	8 volunteers 13 bags
Accotink Creek at Fullerton Road	25 volunteers 30 bags	5 volunteers 16 bags	9 volunteers 17 bags	3 volunteers 4 bags
Accotink Creek at Telegraph Road	5 volunteers 14 bags	4 volunteers 10 bags	7 volunteers 14 bags	2 volunteers 4 bags
Total	158 volunteers 237 bags	177 volunteers 218 bags	317 volunteers 309 bags	298 volunteers 256 bags