Friends of Accotink Creek
Potomac Watershed Cleanup
April & May, 2013

Thanks to all the Friends of Accotink Creek participating in the Potomac Watershed Cleanup along our 12 adopted stretches of Accotink Creek in 2013. Thanks to all their efforts, we together removed 317 bags of trash, 36 tires, and junk ranging from a sod roller to an engine block.    Tweet

All our wonderful cleanup volunteers are invited to gather for an expression of appreciation with refreshments, learning displays and guided stream walks:
May 18th, 2013, 3:00 PM - 5:00 PM, at Hidden Oaks Nature Center , Directions

See all our cleanup photos on our FACEBOOK page!

The April 6th, 2013 stream cleanup:

Lake Accotink Park: We had near-perfect sunny and seasonable weather for the official date of the Potomac Watershed Cleanup. Philip Latasa and Suzy Foster represented Friends of Accotink Creek, joining several members of Friends of Lake Accotink Park and park staff and a good turnout of 125 community volunteers for a great cleanup. While volunteers spread across the park, a small group made a dent in the perennial deposits of “mung” trapped in the marina. An aquatic effort scooped floating trash into a rowboat while others deployed rakes and pitchforks along the seawall to haul trash and small logs over the railing to shore.

We had a turnout of 11 volunteers for our first site, Fullerton Road. Serviceberry bushes were in bloom along the creek as our volunteers scrambled along the steep banks of the gorge where Accotink Creek crosses the Fall Line.

At Franconia-Springfield Parkway, we had 46 volunteers, including groups from Jet Blue, Lee High School Key Club, and Girl Scout Troop 4634. Our Jet Blue volunteers did a great job of cleaning up the Hooes Road dumpsite, littered this time with trash bags filled with beer cans.

Cleanups of illegal dumpsites like this are the special challenge of LET'S DO IT! VIRGINIA

At our last site, Telegraph Road, we had a record of 9 volunteers at this, usually the loneliest of our cleanup sites. Mysterious diggings and piles of construction debris appeared to be a work-in-progress of AT&T.

In a mid-April downpour, Friends of Accotink Creek and 30 Dominion Power employees filled the parking lot of the Audrey Moore Rec Center with trucks, rubber boots, and green reflective vests for a stream clean-up of Wakefield Run in Wakefield Park. Wakefield Run is a tributary of Accotink Creek that is scheduled for a stream restoration project in summer 2013. Dominion Power has also contributed financially to the restoration project, part of which runs under their power line easement.

As the rain moved east, Philip Latasa, co-founder of Friends, reminded the damp group that, in heavily developed regions like Annandale, rain -- carrying heavy metals, nutrients, oil, and litter -- is channeled directly into streams and waterways scouring soil from stream banks and washing it all into drinking water sources and the Chesapeake Bay.

Philip's inspirational words, most noteably: "There's a large water heater that needs removal," heightened the mood and three groups set off. Working on both sides of the Beltway, the morning-long effort hauled mattresses, lumber, shower doors, car parts, a toy samurai sword, countless plastic bottles, and that water heater from the mile-long stream. Twenty-five bags of trash came out of the Wakefield Park side and along Americana Drive, a real dumping ground, the cleanup removed another thirty bags of trash.

Through Dominion Power's volunteer program employees participate in an array of community projects including mentoring young people, repairing state park trails, and reading to children. Several volunteers had participated in stream clean-ups, and many knew the names of their home watersheds - some coming from as far as the Rappahannock and Shenandoah.

We enjoyed another mild and sunny day. The water was left a bit murky and the ground soaked by the previous night's rain, but conditions were still conducive to working along Accotink Creek.

We had a good turnout for our first site, Fairfax Boulevard, 37 volunteers, including groups of volunteers from Dell Government Services and Jet Blue. Bill Nell set up a sidewalk art gallery to display some of his impressive works of trash art.

At Chain Bridge Road, we had 24 volunteers. Unusual finds here included a push scooter in the same location where we found one last fall and two separate finds of soggy cash - a $1 bill and a $5 bill.

At our last site, Old Lee Hwy, we had 15 volunteers. Our most unusual find was a shopping cart, as well as the usual hundreds of golf balls that litter the stream bottom next to the Army-Navy Country Club.

We enjoyed another fine sunny day and clear water for our record crowds of volunteers and for the taping of our cleanup video.

Turnout was high for our first site, Thaiss Park on Pickett Road, with 77 volunteers, including groups from NVCC, The North Face, and GMU Leadership & Community Engagement. We found the makings of an auto restoration project, with four tires, an exhaust pipe, and a bumper. Our string of financial finds continued, with one lucky volunteer locating a $5 bill. Members of the nearby Foxcroft Community Adopt-A-Spot team also joined us, a hopeful sign of future cooperation.

At our second site, Barkley Road, we had a turnout of 42 volunteers. The same group of volunteers from The North Face joined us again, along with Brownie Girl Scout Troop 6932. Unusual finds here included the perplexing discovery of several commercial bakery bread trays.

For our last site of the day, Woodburn Road, we still had 39 volunteers, including a large contingent from Americorps that had driven in from West Virginia to participate in Global Youth Service Day. We pulled an astounding 17 tires out of the creek here! And the Accotink ATM kept pumping out the cash in the form of a $10 bill. A group of brave volunteers hauled a rusty 4-cylinder engine block from the creek. A bicycle, more bread trays, and a home mailbox completed our unusual finds.

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 weather was bright and pleasant for this final day of spring cleanups, ideal for working along the creek and for continued filming of the soon-to-be-released epic Accotink cleanup video. We passed another full cleanup season without getting rained on!

Our first site, King Arthur Road, saw a turnout of 17 volunteers, including groups from The North Face and Girl Scout Troop 4332. Our very littlest volunteers came back with one of the biggest "trophies", rolling a tire still on its steel rim along the trail and up the hill to the street. Other volunteers struggled to extract a heavy oil drum from the creek and carry it back, only to realize it was, in fact, a sod roller filled with plain water. Dumping the water reduced the weight to something to be carried in one hand.

Liz Kirchener and Brian Parr treated volunteers to a demonstration of biological stream monitoring, tabulating the populations of bottom-dwelling wriggling squiming creatures in the creek.

It's bamboo shoot season and we harvested a bounty of these pesky but tasty invasives from a creekside grove to be offered as rewards to volunteers. Although most people are unfamiliar with bamboo as a vegetable, we had a number of volunteers willing to try.

At our second site, Little River Turnpike, we again had 17 volunteers, including The North Face group again. We continue to find large tarps and abandoned lengths of silt fence here, remnants of the HOT Lanes construction project, the "gift that keeps on giving". The HOT lanes will continue to "give" for decades or centuries as bits of the miles of abandoned and buried silt fences left behind come to light.

At Braddock Road, our last site of the day and of the season, we had 19 volunteers, including Girl Scout Troop 6975. Our string of financial finds continued, not with cash this time, but with a pocketbook found half-buried in the creek containing several unexpired credit cards. This initially seemed to offer a possible new funding source for FACC, but inconvenient ethical considerations compelled us to deliver the pocketbook to a police station.

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!