WILMINGTON OUTREACH

Cape Fear River Watch - June 14th

Member Ken Krug

There was an outreach project conducted with assisting members of the Cape Fear River Watch on Saturday, June 14th.  The group conducts a cleanup project in the Wilmington every second Saturday of the month.  This project included cleaning a section of the Squash Branch leading to Greenfield Lake. The Squash is a narrow stream running between two city streets which with the overgrowth on either side is not noticeable from the street.  The area is a gathering point for homeless who are attracted by a church across the street that provides a meal program.

The program leader, Rob Clark, lead me through the undergrowth to the creek and it was almost heart breaking seeing the level of trash polluting the site, paper and plastic bags, plastic and some glass bottles, Styrofoam containers and other trash. The creek was a tangle of weeds, downed branches with the creek meandering along a bed of black mucky sludge, taking a wrong step meant sinking up to a foot deep or more.

We entered the area on foot and in kayaks and did a thorough pickup of all visible trash along all parts accessible for a length of about 150 yards over a period of two hours. I took a before picture but also should have taken an after. There was a tree canopy between the overgrowth on each side which I didn’t really notice until we were almost finished and had time to look around.  The difference was amazing. It now looked like a scenic place you might want to use for a picnic.

This may be a contender for future outreach events.