Bay cleanup set

Published 7:32 pm Saturday, May 28, 2016

Volunteers young and old are needed to participate in Suffolk’s Clean the Bay Day effort on Saturday.

From 9 a.m. to noon June 4, volunteers will fan out to six proposed sites in Suffolk to collect litter in the water and along the shoreline.

“The idea is to be safe, have fun and contribute to cleaning up the bay,” said Wayne Jones, litter control coordinator for the city of Suffolk.

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Last year, Suffolk volunteers were part of more than 6,000 volunteers region-wide who removed about 110,000 pounds of litter from 450 miles of shoreline.

Jones said Suffolk’s participation is important because the city has a large amount of watershed, where even trash thrown on dry ground is likely to eventually make it to a creek or river and then to the bay.

“We’re trying to work farther upstream, before it even makes it into the bay,” he said.

Adults and children are welcome to volunteer, but some sites are restricted to adults and responsible older teens due to the challenging terrain.

The sites open to children and adults include Sleepy Hole Park, Bennett’s Creek Park and Seaboard Coastline Trail.

Adult volunteers only are requested for Constant’s Wharf Park and Coulbourn Park.

Lake Meade Park also is a site for the project, but it is already full of volunteers.

Jones said advance registration is required so volunteers can be assigned to a site.

Boaters with kayaks, canoes and any shallow water boat are needed to collect trash by water. Larger boats are helpful as collection points for smaller boats.

“Clean the Bay Day is a great way for Virginians to do their part for the waterways we enjoy every day,” said Tanner Council, Clean the Bay Day coordinator. “It’s really become a unique Virginia tradition. With so many people working together, in just a few hours we make a huge difference in cleaning up the bay, rivers, streams, lakes and beaches across the state.”

Volunteers can register at www.cbf.org.

For more information, contact Jones at 514-7604 or littercontrol@suffolkva.us.