Ring! Ring! Ring! “What is that,” I groan as I struggle to open my eyes. “Hello?” I barely answer the phone in time. “GET UP!” Someone yells back at me. “Why?” I grumble back. “We are doing service at Bryan Park! LETS GO!” Tonisha White shouts back. “Well, so much for sleeping in and a beautiful start to the morning.” I think to myself.
Such a contrast, as I think back now, to how the rest of my day went. A gorgeous day, 75 degrees with sun and slight breeze that cools you down every now and then, Tonisha, Malori, Emily and I headed down to Bryan Park in northern Richmond. For my second service, I wanted to work with an organization or group that was focused on the James River Watershed so I chose to do a cleanup organized by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. While the self constructed clean ups organized by my fellow Earth Lodgers sounded exciting, I was looking for a project closely connected to our class’s mission and this cleanup fit in perfectly. Once we arrived we were given a general orientation of the land, its history and the goal of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. Bryan Park is over 100 years old and is a perfect miniature model of all the characteristics of a watershed we have been observing. There were several teams present and each was assigned a specific task. Some teams went to the fall line to clean up trash, others went to the headwater to remove invasive species (poison ivy), others repaired the signs made by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation dictating what a watershed was, different areas of the river and what they could do to get involved. My team was sent to a riparian zone to clean up the trash. Cook out containers was a popular find, along with beer cans and frogs. SO MANY FROGS! At one point, Malori simply stepped into a marshy area and a ripple effect of frog jumping’s occurred and I could estimate over 40 frogs leapt from their hiding spots. After collecting 3 bags of trash from this riparian zone we went back and chatted with Jessica, the lead volunteer coordinator from Chesapeake Bay Foundation about her role and involvement with the area. It was exciting to understand and have a vibrant conversation with a stranger up until that moment about what we have been studying in class. She explained the process of how this river flows into the Upham Brooke that then reaches the James River and onwards to the Chesapeake Bay and was extremely interested in our class and Earth Lodge in general.
After the clean up, as we drove out of the park I realized the entire time I was right next to I-95. This pristine area upon where I had reflected upon my day and our class is adjacent to a roaring highway. The contrast between a place where you contemplate the moment and a place where you contemplate the destination was revealing of the nature of man to avoid where he is at because his mind is on where he is going. While I thought I was the first to think of this thought another individual who I respect greatly thought of it first so take a look through his blog its fantastic.