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AWS/ACBA Earth Day Cleanup and Bioswale Work Session
Saturday, April 25, 2015
Today we had a combined effort between several groups signed up through AWS for the Earth Day river cleanup and a regular ACBA work session in the bioswale. Altogether 62 people put in a long morning of work along the river and roads near the boathouse. To be added to our Earth Day count is a work session on April 19th by a group of 35 Bishop Ireton High School rowers who conducted their own cleanup by picking up trash along the river on the boathouse site in the bioswale and parking lot. (See the April 19 summary, below) Kudos for an incredible effort from all volunteers!
The following tasks were accomplished:
 AWS Earth Day River Cleanup - trash pick up along river, roads, and bike path
ACBA Monthly Bioswale Work Session
Volunteers from Virgin Atlantic, DC International, GS Troop 6530, Capital Juniors & 3 Individuals dove in to pick up trash along M Street SE, the river bank, and the bike path from Barney Circle to the East Capital St bridge. Bill Cocke, AWS volunteer extraordinaire led the group, giving a short introduction and then marching off to their destination cleanup sites (see map above).
The following tasks were accomplished:
Trash pickup along the road and river up to the RFK parking lot.
Intensive cleanup along the bike path curve at Barney Circle
Moving trash and recyling bags from path worker to ACBA and Kingman Island
Completion of AWS data sheet to record statistics
Reporting to AWS the location of large trash items needing removal
[left ] Bill Cocke (white cowboy hat) kicks off the cleanup with some words of inspiration for volunteers
 
 
[Above] Capital Juniors scour the area along the RFK parking lot
The volunteers generated 30 bags of trash, 30 bags of recyclables, and about 200 lbs of large items (chair, old heater, bicycle, metal pieces, etc). Most of the bags were hauled either to the boathouse dumpster and recycling center, or to the Kingman Island area. A pile of large trash items pulled from the edge of the road on Barney Circle was left there for next-day pickup by AWS.
ACBA Monthly Bioswale Work Session
Sixteen intrepid volunteers tackled some very tough tasks in the bioswale. The group included members of NCAWPA, Go Pink, DC Strokes, and Capital's Club AM, Club PM, Competitive team, SAW, and Scullers.
The following tasks were accomplished:
Digging Yellow flag iris and careful disposal.
Removal of 5 bush/tree stumps from along the seawall
Planting of two Rose Mallow Hibiscus replacement bushes
Trash pick up along the edge of the river.
Non-native invasive plant removal
This team rebuked the new invasion of yellow flag iris that has appeared in the bioswale over the past year. They produced at least 20 trash bags of the these slightly noxious and fast growing invasives.
A team from Go Pink [pictured left] tackled the growth of black locust in several places in the bioswale. They dug and clipped back the tough black locust stands and then applied a systemic herbicide to kill off the roots and prevent regrowth.
Bioswale Maintenance
This team [pictures below] worked to remove several live stumps that have been threatening the historic seawall and creating weedy growth in the west end of the bioswale (section 5). The marvelous Marcel from Club PM volunteered the use of his truck to pull the stumps out, first wrapping them with sturdy moving straps and then driving off! Five big stumps (estimated 200 lbs) were removed and deposited in the dumpster - what an effort!
 
Native Plant Restoration
This group planted two big Rose Mallow Hibiscus [right] in section 5 under the River Birches. Hibiscus moscheutos is a native species appearing in the original landscaping plan for the bioswale, but apparently some of the original plants have not survived, so these are replacements
Notes: Tasks for May work session
Continue working to clear visual space in section 5 for viewing the river. Some mulching would be good.
Use clippers/chainsaw to limb up and remove suckers from blk locust near Paddlers, old tree along the road, and the big tree by dragon boat storage.
Clear the edge of the rocks in sections 1 and 2, using the work in section 3 as a model.
Remove the old shell used as a planter last year next to the bioswale sign
Dig/remove Lespedeza from section 2, and there's some starting next to the ramp in section 4.
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Took down the big Locust near the Paddler's dock, cut it up and put it in the dumpster
Trees to be removed 
Trees to be cleared around and mulched
by Jim Mitchell 
We cleaned the entire area in front of the boathouse from The Dragon Boat launch area to the adjoining yacht club. I only took photos in that one area but the entire bioswale was cleaned. We picked up anything that was not natural. We did separate some of the recyclables but I used my discretion to have really soiled plastic treated as trash. From my experience with Waste Management and their recycling requirements they get really upset with heavily soiled plastic being commingled with “clean” plastic. We collected 20-25 thirty-gallon bags of trash.
session much, as we had just a few tasks to get done this early in the year. Both were from CRC (SAW & PM).
ACBA Freshwater Mussel Project
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