Clean the Bay Day - June 2nd

We had a great time for our Clean the Bay Day Event today.   Twenty volunteers of all ages came out to help make a dent in the trash and debris that has collected over the years around the Indian River Bridge.   One team tackled each end of the bridge and were soon working their way into the stands of phragmites to pull out the assorted flotsam and jetsam.   Two canoes plied the shoreline picking up harder to reach items.  

We had several new volunteers come out and join us today.    Our canoeists also made friends with the commercial crab boat that works the river and supplies some of the crabs to Wickers.

We were amazed at some of the items we found - clothing, blankets, venetian blinds, a teddy bear.   There were also parts of an old bicycle, some tires, rugs, and a vacuum cleaner.    There was also an unfortunate amount of broken glass under the bridge.  Of course, there were lots of plastic bottles netted by the phragmites.    I doubt anyone who works on such a cleanup is ever careless about littering again.    

All in all, we collected about 40 bags of trash, and a lot of debris that didn't fit in bags - from rugs to lumber.   We estimated the weight at 1000 lbs of trash and, including the area covered by the canoes, we cleaned about half a mile of shoreline.    That's a whole lot of trash that won't sully our shorelines or be ingested by wildlife.

Thank you to the City of Chesapeake for sponsoring the event and providing trash bags and other supplies.   Kudos to Tanner Council at the CBF for some last minute logistical support.   And especially, a really huge Thank You to all the volunteers who came out today and did the really hard work of digging out trash and making our community better.