Cleaning up Four Mile Run!

GWU Professor Tara Scully and her biology students are coming out to the Four Mile Run Farmers & Artisans Market this Sunday, April 10th from 11am to 2pm to lead community kids of all ages on a clean-up of the Four Mile Run Stream and nearby park and woodlands. 

The clean-up is part of what Tara calls "Science in the Hood". Check out this video her students shot a few months ago featuring some other nature explorations in and around Four Mile Run Park:

If you can't make it out on Sunday, another effort will  take place on Saturday April 9th, starting at 9:30am and taking off from the Conservatory Center at Four Mile Run Park (the red building at 4109 Mt Vernon Avenue).

For those who are unfamiliar with this effort, it's a joint effort between Casa Chirilagua, National Community Church, and those who want to improve the neighborhood for everyone. Please take advantage of this opportunity to help shape an effort that's working to improve the neighborhood and bring everyone closer together!

This Saturday, the group will start with cleaning the park, and move up Mount Vernon Avenue. In addition to cleaning, the goal is to engage with the people in the neighborhood and try to form a more cohesive bond between neighbors; to use working in the neighborhood as a mechanism to bridge cultural divides and to build the community.

Is this weekend not going to work for you? Fear not.Volunteer for the 28th Annual Potomac Watershed Cleanup on the following Saturday, April 16th from 9 – 11am.

Alexandria's Department of Transportation and Environmental Services (T&ES), Stormwater Management Division, and Resource Recovery Division, in conjunction with the Alice Ferguson Foundation, will host a clean-up site in Four Mile Park. The clean-up will focus on a different location than Sundays: Four Mile Run Park at the end of 3700 Commonwealth Avenue.

Around the region, families, scouts, students, retirees, and thousands of other concerned residents and citizens will hit the shorelines, neighborhood parks, community streets, and schoolyards to clean local streams in the Potomac River Watershed. The Alice Ferguson Foundation created the Potomac River Watershed Cleanup in 1989 and has overseen the collection of over 5 million pounds of trash.

There are plenty of opportunities to join in. Just bring proper footwear, bring a garbage bag and gloves if you have them. But don't miss out on the fun!!