With winter finally behind us, crews took to the St. Mary’s River Watershed for the sixth annual spring cleaning. The St. Mary’s River Watershed Association hosted two cleanups as part of the 26th Annual Potomac River Cleanup – one along the banks of the St. Mary’s River, the other at Chancellor’s Run Regional Park.
Thirty-seven volunteers paddled a section of the St. Mary’s River near Adkins Rd. on Saturday, April 5, picking trash from the banks and stream bed. In its sixth year, cleanup crews continued to pull huge amounts of trash from the St. Mary’s River. Many of items end up the river after rains wash litter into storm drains from city streets and neighborhoods.
Three truckloads of rubbish were pulled from the river, including 11 tires, 82 bags of trash and recyclables, and 1320 lbs. of loose trash. A rubber ducky, engine block, and even a bathtub were hauled from the river.
Fifty-one volunteers representing the Life Community Church of God youth group, Great Mills High School Honors Society, and the Rope N Wrangler’s 4-H teamed up to deep-clean Chancellor’s Run Regional Park on Thursday, April 3. In all 41 bags of trash and recyclables and 180 pounds of loose trash were hauled from the park to the county landfill.
“Apparently, littering is often a trait of the Bud Light consumer,” said event director Bob Lewis. “We need an intervention.” At both sites, the most prevalent piece of trash was by far the Bud Light beer can.
The St. Mary’s River Clean Up is hosted by the St. Mary’s River Watershed Association (http://www.smrwa.org) , and is one of many clean ups that are part of the Alice Ferguson Foundation 26th Annual Potomac River Watershed Cleanup, http://www.fergusonfoundation.org/ .
Thousands of residents from the region participate in the cleanup each year, and since its inception nearly 6.5 million pounds of trash has been removed from our waterways.
