The Alliance’s Washington, DC team had a very busy Earth Day this year! Instead of hosting our own event, we wanted to show support for local environmental community partners and chose to attend different events across the DC Metro Area to do so. Check out which events we attended below:

Trash Cleanup at Oxon Cove Park

Erin O’Grady joined Potomac RiverKeeper, Anacostia Community Collaborative, Rails for Trails, and Washington Area Bicyclist Association for a trash cleanup in Oxon Cove Park. Oxon Cove is a National Park Service site with bike/walking trails (accessible by a Maryland and DC entrance) and a farm. Two waves of volunteers walked along the paths, cleaning up trash in the lush green foliage, looking out onto the Potomac River.

“It was a joy to spend my Earth Day with the DC Area’s avid bicyclist community and Anacostia Community volunteers along the waters of our Nation’s River.” – Erin O’Grady

Garden Maintenance at St. Catherine Labouré Catholic Church

Jordan Gochenaur went to St. Catherine Labouré Catholic Church with EcoLatinos, who organized a small group of about 15 community members to help maintain the rain gardens installed there last year.

“I gave a short talk about stormwater, and then we all pulled weeds till the rain started. It was pretty cool to talk about stormwater in reference to an actual storm event and then be able to spend an hour helping the community prepare for it.” – Jordan Gochanaur

Trash Cleanup at Matthew Hanson Trail

Savanna Lightcap joined 47 other volunteers and the Potomac Conservancy at Matthew Hanson Trail in Silver Spring. The volunteers cleaned along the river and over 50 bags of trash and 1 shopping cart were collected (1,300 pounds!). This was one of several clean-up events Potomac Conservancy hosted on Earth Day.

Invasive Species Removal at Theodore Roosevelt Island

Kristen Parsons participated in an invasive species removal service event with a group of volunteers from Arlington Regional Master Naturalists as well as National Park Services’ National Capital Region PRISM (Partnership for Regional Invasive Species Management) and Invasive Plant Management Team.

“We worked on removing jetbead, Rhodotypos scandens, from an area of Theodore Roosevelt Island along with other invasives (wineberry, Rubus phoenicolasius, and bush honeysuckle, Lonicera maackii) to clear space for natives to thrive including pawpaw, Asimina triloba, and spicebush, Lindera benzoin! It was great to connect with other members of the community and learn about how they came across the service event (quite a few joined after seeing the opportunity on the MeetUp app!) This is one of my favorite types of environmental service and I’m glad we had a beautiful day to help local organizations working on mitigating the presence of invasive species on Theodore Roosevelt Island.” – Kristen Parsons

Invasive Species Removal at Four Mile Run Park

Kayli Ottomanelli and Carly Starobin attended the Student Conservation Association’s Volunteer Service Event at Four Mile Run Park in Alexandria, VA.

“Before getting unfortunately rained out halfway through, we removed several buckets worth of invasive teasel. The plant was still in it’s rosette stages, but it can grow up to 8 feet tall! Needless to say, it’s easier to remove when it’s small and we were more than happy to join this effort.” – Carly Starobin

Arbor Day Tree Planting at Bowie State University

The Alliance partnered with Bowie State University to plant two trees on campus. About 15 volunteers came out to help plant these trees, a White Oak and an Eastern Redbud, mulch the 6 trees we planted last year, and pick up litter from a park on campus. This event was in honor of Arbor Day and also in celebration of BSU receiving its Tree Campus certification! (Photo credit: Ryan Pelham, Bowie State University)

Green Careers Discussion at Coppin State University

The Alliance worked with faculty members at Coppin State University to host a discussion about green careers with Randy K. Rowell Jr., the coordinator of the Chesapeake Student Recruitment, Advisement, and Mentoring (C-StREAM) Program. During this event, Randy shared his story pursuing a career in the environment and gave advice to the students on how to translate their degrees and skills into careers in the environmental sector!

Invasive Species Removal at Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens

Maya Sterett attended Anacostia Watershed Society’s Earth Day event at Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens removing invasive plants.

“Spending a day waist deep in a lotus pond pulling up
invasive parrot feather is a great way to spend a weekend morning. Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens is a hidden gem in DC, where folks can view lotus and lily ponds bloom in summer.” – Maya Sterett