Save the earth one park and tree at a time at these local cleanups and Earth Day events

Led by Rock Creek Conservancy, a small army of volunteers cleans up the trash that collects in Rock Creek and its tributary parks. The Conservancy is now marshaling its forces for the year’s biggest cleanup event: The 11th Extreme Cleanup on Saturday, April 13.

“Last year, more than 2,000 volunteers attended the Extreme Cleanup. Those volunteers worked together to clean up more than 1,600 bags of litter, two tons of bulk junk, and 76 car tires,” said the Conservancy in a press release.

The Extreme Cleanup is too big to fit in one day. There are adjunct cleanups as soon as this Sunday and as late as April 27. They all have the same goal: Keep trash out of the Rock Creek and Potomac watershed and prevent it from reaching the Atlantic Ocean “where it would join the 5.2 trillion pieces of plastic trash that currently pollute the Earth’s largest bodies of water.”

Many of our local parks and streams are targeted for attention this year. Volunteers are needed at the following sites:

Peirce Mill on March 31 and April 14
Meet at 2401 Tilden Street
Register here for the March 31 cleanup and here for the one on the 14th.

Melvin Hazen West on April 6 and 13
Meet at 3031 Sedgwick Street
Register here for the April 6 cleanup, and here for one of the 13th.

And among dozens of sites on April 13: Soapstone Windom at 10 a.m.
Meet at Connecticut and Windom
Register here

Other nearby sites include Fort Reno, Wilson Aquatic Center, and Broad Branch Stream.

(Reminder: Rock Creek Conservancy is joining Forest Hills Connection and the DC Department of Energy and the Environment in leading a tour of the daylighted Broad Branch Stream on April 7. We hope you will join us!)

The final Extreme Cleanup event is at Forest Hills Park and Playground on April 27 at 9:30 a.m. All ages are welcome. Sign up here.

The results of the spring 2018 cleanup at Forest Hills Park.

In addition, UDC’s College of Agriculture, Urban Sustainability and Environmental Sciences is celebrating Earth Day with a tree planting event in collaboration with Casey Trees. They are welcoming volunteers to assist with planting 70 trees at the Van Ness campus on Saturday, April 20 (register) from 9 a.m. to noon, and 20 trees on Monday, April 22 (register) from 10 a.m to 1 p.m.