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Annual Potomac cleanup draws hundreds
Friday, April 10, 2009
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photos by GRETCHEN PHILLIPS
Volunteers Richard Roddy and Shadaron Odom from Boy Scout Troop 483 in Waldorf roll a tire through a field Saturday at Marshall Hall Park during the Alice Ferguson Foundation's Potomac River Watershed Cleanup.
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The Potomac River watershed got a little cleaner while the local community got a little greener Saturday.
The 21st annual Alice Ferguson Foundation Potomac River Watershed Cleanup had thousands of volunteers out cleaning hundreds of cleanup sites in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C., Saturday.
In Charles County, 19 locations were due for some spring cleaning including Marshall Hall Park, Chapel Point State Park and Cobb Island.
Bob Lukinic, the president of the Southern Maryland Audubon Society and site leader at Marshall Hall Park, said the community turnout has grown over the years, and this year some 60 volunteers turned out to support the cause.
A group of newcomers asked Lukinic where to begin as they did not know which areas were littered. Lukinic smiled and said it didn't matter where they started and not to worry because "there will be trash," no matter where they started.
"Mother Nature has been good to us, its time we be good to her," said Nicholas Young, 13. Nicholas came out Saturday with members of his Boy Scout Troop 483 out of Waldorf.
Troop 1709 from White Plains was also on hand assisting the Marshal Hall Park cleanup.
Rick Roddy, troop leader for troop 483, said April is community service month, and the Potomac River cleanup is a great opportunity for the scouts to get community service and help the environment.
Not all volunteers were scouts, as individual members of the community and members of other organizations such as the Southern Junior Bassmasters from La Plata also pitched in. The 12- to 18-year-old fishing enthusiasts and their adult leaders were out an hour before the official 9 a.m. start of the cleanup removing large logs from the boat ramp and picking up trash.
"We're trying to clean up our resources," said parent volunteer Rick LaNore.
The trash found along the river at Marshall Hall Park ranged from plastic and glass bottles to large pieces of Styrofoam, broken pipes and tires.
While volunteers and passersby recognize litter for what it is, young volunteer Kayla Yake, 11, said animals don't.
"Animals mistake trash for food and then they die," she said.
She and Cousin Ashley Mills picked up several bags of trash Saturday at Marshall Hall Park with Kayla's mother Victoria.
Victoria Yake said she was amazed at the amount of litter in the area and the strange things that seemed to wash up from the Potomac such as the Styrofoam.
According to a press release from the Alice Ferguson foundation unique items such as an old ice cream freezer, bones and 20 feet of guardrail were found in cleanup areas.
According to a report on the Alice Ferguson Foundation Web site, more than 4,000 volunteers participated Saturday collecting 86 tons of trash.
The cleanup program runs through April 25 at many locations according to a press release.
