CHARLOTTESVILLE -- More than 50 volunteers filled dozens of garbage bags with debris from three streams on Saturday as part of a statewide effort to help clean up the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
The volunteers spent the morning collecting trash from waterways in McIntire Park, Jordan Park and a piece of parkland off Fifth Street. The effort was part of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation's 21st annual Clean the Bay Day, which involved some 5,000 volunteers at about 200 sites. This year was the first time Charlottesville has participated in the event.
"Albemarle is really the farthest county west that feeds into the Chesapeake Bay," said Tex Weaver, a member of the Virginia chapter of the Master Naturalists who led the cleanup at McIntire Park. "This was an opportunity for us to contribute. We're picking up all sorts of miscellaneous debris."
A pile of black trash bags was filled with a doormat, aluminum cans, broken glass, a pink soccer ball, tractor equipment, a long piece of heavy metal cable and much more.
The refuse had been collected from the park's Meadowbrook Creek, a stream that feeds into Meadow Creek and continues on to the Rivanna and James rivers, ultimately flowing into the bay.
Volunteer Lorianne Barnett of Charlottesville took a break from collecting junk out of the stream and showed off a yellow sheet that logged every bit of trash she had removed. Her list included synthetic rope, a pair of eyeglasses, quite a few pull tabs from old beer cans, a couple of cigarette butts, one sock, lots of plastic and a pair of pants.
"The pants were soaked so they were really heavy," Barnett joked.
The Chesapeake Bay Foundation recently gave the bay a score of 28 out of 100, a lackluster grade that has remained unchanged for the past decade.
"The bay is operating at about a quarter of its historic potential," foundation spokesman Chuck Epes said.
Still, he added, steps taken to clean up the bay have worked. Over the past 10 years, Virginia's population has increased and the strain on the bay has increased. Left unchecked, he said, the bay would have grown significantly worse.
Brian McNeill is a staff writer for The Daily Progress in Charlottesville.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement