This past Sunday Josh and I decided to complete our Earth Lodge community service around the corner from campus at Pony Pasture Rapids Park. In an effort to do our part to clean up the river and the park system we decided to grab some trash bags and latex gloves from my lab and see what we could find and remove. Luckily it was a beautiful day outside.
Not sure where to start, we decided to just walk down the main path leading from the parking lot alongside the river. The only problem was that about every 30 feet or so along this path there was a trash receptacle, and therefore, little litter for us to pick up. So we decided to move off of the path and down towards the river and its rocky bank. It was here that we started to see the trash, and natural debris, pile up.
In fact, there was so much natural debris (tree trunks, branches, leaves, pine needs, etc.) gathered together alongside the river that Josh and I began to wonder if any of the recent rain storms had caused some flooding of the river. This thought then reminded me of the discussions we’ve had in class about wetlands, Pony Pasture being one example, and how they can help to control flooding by absorbing excess water. Anyway, it was here in these large piles of debris that we hit the “jackpot” when it came to our trash pick-up. We found everything from plastic and glass bottles to beer cans to an old frisbee, and even a broken (yet fixable) knife that Josh picked up. All in all once we moved off the main path we had little trouble filling up our trash bags. The only trouble came when trying to maneuver from rock to rock alongside the river, with both of us at one point or another almost wiping out into the mud.
Overall, I found our EL Pony Pasture clean up to be a very rewarding experience. As cheesy as it may sound it really did feel good to get up and start the day by getting outside and doing something good for the community and nature. And the looks and smiles we got from fellow river-goers sure didn’t hurt. It was also really nice to spend some time with Josh- one of the Earth Lodgers I haven’t had too much of a chance to get to know all that well. We talked about everything from beer (how many cans there were!) to environmentalism to just college life, and it was intriguing to hear his perspective on a lot of the issues that I come across in everyday life. As simple as it was (just grabbing some trash bags and going) I really enjoyed our adventure to Pony Pasture and definitely wouldn’t mind doing it again sometime, perhaps at another one of the other popular sites within the James River park system.
