District employees volunteer for day of environmental stewardship

Posted May 24, 2010
By Brittany Brown
Norfolk District Public Affairs

05/24/2010 - NORFOLK — Employees from the Norfolk District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are doing their part to keep Virginia waterways clean by volunteering for this year's Clean the Bay Day event, scheduled to take place June 5 from 9 a.m. until noon.

Clean the Bay Day is an annual statewide event organized by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, in conjunction with municipalities, businesses and government agencies working together to restore the Chesapeake Bay and its rivers and streams. Every year since 1989, citizens throughout the Commonwealth have dedicated their time to clear debris from Virginia waterways. In 2009 alone, 7,022 volunteers removed 102 tons of debris from 475 miles of waterways.

Norfolk District employees are slated to clean up debris from the Craney Island Dredged Material Management Area, or CIDMMA, which is operated and maintained by the district. CIDMMA is a 2,500-acre confined dredged material disposal site on the north side of Portsmouth, Va. It serves as an economical and environmentally sustainable repository for material dredged within the Hampton Roads harbor.

To date, 24 district employees have volunteered to pick up shoreline litter and collect debris from along the perimeter of CIDMMA, said Kristen Donofrio, biological scientist and district zone captain for the district's team of volunteers. In addition to the team of volunteers on-site at CIDMMA, members of the district's debris removal team are scheduled to patrol area waterways to pick up debris that could potentially damage vessels.

Following Clean the Bay Day clean-up, volunteers are permitted to stay on-site until 3:30 p.m. to take advantage of the many recreational uses of Craney, including fishing, crabbing, bird watching and hiking.