Several volunteers left Neabsco Creek cleaner than they found it this past weekend.
The Prince William Trails & Streams Coalition (PWTSC) and Prince William Soil and Water Conservation hosted a cleanup day on Saturday.
Community members met up Neabsco Eagles Park in Woodbridge and picked up litter upstream from the Metz Wetlands.
Neil Nelson, the PWTSC’s secretary, said trash left on “impervious surfaces” — such as parking lots and roads — is collected when it rains.
“It flows into the nearest stream at higher velocity, higher volume than it would normally. And [the rain] picks up anything that’s been left out on the street and carries it down and deposits it here in this wooded area, this flood plain,” Nelson said. “Some of it gets captured here before it flows further down.”
Members of Boy Scout Troop 501 helped with the cleanup.
“It’s our responsibility not to put trash out there in the first place. This is a case where sometimes nature takes things out of our control,” Scout Master Justin Youtz said. “And so we try to do diligence as good citizens to come back and clean everything up.”
Cleaning up the stream, he added, can have a positive impact on nature.
“There’s wild animals living down all through there,” Youtz said. “It’s just healthy for the environment, and it’s the right thing to do.”
