Army Corps employees pitch in to clean the Chesapeake Bay

Posted June 7, 2011
By Pamela Spaugy
Norfolk District Public Affairs

06/04/2011 - PORTSMOUTH, Va. — More than 31 employees and family members from the Norfolk District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, participated in this year’s Clean the Bay Day, removing 104 bags of trash totaling 2,392 pounds, and about 1,450 pounds of "non-bagged or bulky" items.

Clean the Bay Day is a statewide initiative 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, thousands of citizens throughout the Commonwealth have dedicated their time to clear litter from waterways.

This year, more than 6,200 volunteers statewide removed approximately 200,000 pounds of debris from 500 miles of streams and shorelines along the bay, according to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. Last year, 7,430 volunteers removed 217,641 pounds of debris at 245 sites along 419 miles of the Chesapeake Bay.

Norfolk District employees volunteered three hours of their time Saturday morning to remove debris from the shorelines of 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 federal waterways of the Hampton Roads harbor.

"We had a fantastic turn-out, and it says a lot when people travel from as far as their home in Williamsburg to participate," said Kristen Donofrio, biological scientist here and zone captain for the district's team of volunteers.

Although Clean the Bay Day is regionally managed by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, the event organization for the local area is done by Keep Norfolk Beautiful. "I think it's great for the Norfolk District that we have the opportunity to work with KNB since it helps promote our volunteer efforts and work in general throughout the community," Donofrio said.

This year, the Corps partnered with volunteers from the Society of American Military Engineers of Hampton Roads.

According to data collection sheets provided to Donofrio, more than 3,800 pounds of trash was removed from CIDMMA's shorelines, a majority of which included plastic bottles and Styrofoam from buoys, cups, or other containers and nautical debris.

Some unusual items found by district employees included a chair, life jacket, My Little Pony toy, lip gloss, cooler tops, plastic parts from syringes, mini-fridge, six-foot snake skin, pair of pants, remote control from a crane lift and a pair of sneakers.