A Bennett’s Creek coffee party
Published 9:38 pm Thursday, March 26, 2015
At Bennett’s Creek Park on Thursday, Keurig Green Mountain employees Janece Adams, Mark McLenithan, Felicia Crest-Miller and Tonica Scott work along the bank on a vegetation buffer that will filter storm water runoff. The Nansemond River Preservation Alliance project was in partnership with the coffee roaster, national nonprofit American Rivers, Suffolk Parks and Recreations and The Virginia Master Naturalists.
Dozens of volunteers this week have been working on the banks of Bennett’s Creek to create a vegetation buffer that will filter stormwater runoff and reduce erosion.
On Tuesday, about 50 volunteers worked adjacent to the dock at Bennett’s Creek Park, according Elizabeth Taraski, executive director of Nansemond River Preservation Alliance, which led the project.
They planted saltbush and blueberry bushes and spread mulch, defining a walking path “so people will stay on the path and enjoy the waterways,” Taraski said.
On Thursday, about 40 volunteers toiled on a different section inside the park.
Among the volunteers, most were from Keurig Green Mountain, which has provided American Rivers money for river and creek cleanup projects across the country, said Anne Williams, the coffee roaster’s volunteerism lead on the North Suffolk project.
“Every plant does a river restoration project once a year,” Williams said of the company’s approach. “Since we are still fairly new, this is our first one, and we were able to connect with the Nansemond River Preservation Alliance.”
Peter Roquemore, American Rivers’ national river cleanup manager, said the nonprofit works on hundreds of such projects around the nation. “Last year we had about 90,000 volunteers,” he said.
Other volunteers at Bennett’s Creek Park were from The Virginia Master Naturalists and the alliance itself, Taraski said.
The alliance has developed a good relationship with Suffolk Parks and Recreation, she said, and selected the Bennett’s Creek project after consulting with the city department.
“By putting in saltbush and blueberry bushes — natives to this area — they have a deep root system and they act as a filter,” according to Taraski.
“Instead of rain going directly into the waterway, it’s actually absorbed through the root system.”
She said the new plants and mulch also make the park more attractive.
Geoff Payne, from the Historic Southside chapter of the Master Naturalists, said the group supports “everything NRPA does.”
“I just see this as a forerunner to a lot of potential cooperative projects with Parks and Recreation and the city to improve our environmental culture,” he said.
