On April 8, 60 dedicated volunteers collected around 80 bags of trash in the Dyke Marsh Wildlife Preserve, Belle Haven Park, Belle Haven Marina and along the GW Parkway trail and the Potomac River shoreline from 9 a.m. to 12 noon.  Items included cigarette butts, bottle tops, plastic bottles, whiskey bottles, a fishing rod, a soaked sleeping bag, two rubber tires (one from a tractor trailer truck), fast food debris, various balls and much Styrofoam and miscellaneous plastic.

The photo (upper left) is of the stomach of an albatross killed by all the litter, mostly plastic, that the bird ingested.Volunteers especially focused on the small items because birds, fish and other wildlife mistake them for food and ingesting them can be lethal (see photo, right).  Thank you to everyone who turned out, including friends from Good Shepherd Catholic Church, the Potomac Runners, Lee District Democrats, Friends of Westgrove Dog Park and the Emerging Leaders Network from the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency.   The cleanup was part of the 29^th annual Ferguson Potomac River Watershed Cleanup, held every year in April.  The Friends of Dyke Marsh look forward to the day when trash cleanups are unnecessary.

Photos contributed by Glenda Booth