Volunteers scour area creeks
By HEATHER ROTH, Staff Writer
Published 04/05/09

To save the Chesapeake Bay, start at the source.

That's what Mel Wilkins of Gambrills, a member of the Spa Creek Conservancy, told the more than 70 volunteers who gathered at the headwaters of Spa Creek yesterday morning, at the end of South Cherry Grove Avenue in Annapolis.
"If we can't save the creeks, we can't save the bay," he said. "Save the creek, save the rivers, then save the bay."

Area conservation groups, community members, midshipmen, inmates and county personnel gathered at multiple sites for Project Clean Stream, a major event of the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay.

Groups worked from 9 a.m. to noon collecting trash from streams and waterways that feed into the Chesapeake Bay.

"(Project Clean Stream) lets people really get a good view of where the creeks are," said Cindy Wallace of Annapolis, program co-ordinator at the South River Federation.

Wallace spent the first hour of the morning gathering trash along Bacon Ridge Branch and Chesterfield Road in Annapolis, then joined other volunteers working along Church Creek behind the Subaru dealership on Route 2 in Annapolis.

"A lot of people probably don't realize Church Creek starts over here," she said. "A lot of it is just raising awareness."

Trash was piled near the volunteers' cars; rusting shopping carts and a rotting tire leaned against the black trash bags.

"Some trash have carcinogens in them, clear poisons that can pollute the water," Wallace said. "It's amazing what we find - car parts, bikes, furniture, tires, appliances (and) computers that clearly have a lot of heavy metals."

At the headwaters of Spa Creek, three midshipmen from the Midshipman Action Group helped carry the rotted-out remains of a foot-bridge out of the ravine.

Volunteers filled 90 33-gallon heavy duty trash bags, and found metal debris, scraps, old lawn mowers, wheelbarrows and 55-gallon drums in or near the water, Wilkins said.

"We're from the South, so we understand the importance of keeping the woods clean," said Midshipman 3rd Class Eric Arnold, of Sharpsburg, Ga.

He was one of about 50 midshipmen who volunteered.

"This is another way to give back to the community," said Midshipman 2nd Class Luke Leveque of Anchorage, Alaska. "(Midshipmen) need to be active."

Maren Schwarz of the Murray Hill community and Daniel Wilcox of the Homewood community, both eighth-graders at St. Mary's Elementary School, chose cleaning up streams as their service projects. Maren said her family enjoys fishing, crabbing and boating, so she wanted to do her part.

"We live on the stream and we want to take care of it," she said.

Daniel said he grew up playing in the headwaters of Spa Creek, and has visited it monthly for the past year to collect trash.

"I have always liked to go down here and hang out with friends, so I didn't want it to be all messed up," he said.

About 70 volunteers pitched in to help at two different sites at Indian Creek, off Indian Landing Road in Millersville.

Volunteers ranged from community members to inmates from the county detention center, and filled about seven trucks at one site and five Dumpsters at the other.

In Odenton, Mike Murphy of the Forks of Patuxent community organized both a morning and afternoon clean-up event. Between 40 and 50 volunteers filled one extra-large Dumpster with trash from along the roadways in the morning, Murphy said, as well as another four tires.

Another 20 volunteers spent the afternoon gathering what Murphy guessed to be 1,600 pounds of trash from around the Little Patuxent River Bridge.

Also, about 10 volunteers and members of Girl Scout Troop 426 of Crofton tackled the area between Nantucket Elementary School and Mystic Court in Crofton. Organizer Margaret Porschet estimated they collected about 200 pounds of trash.

"It was quite good," she said. "We decided to do our little bit in our local area."

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