Cleaning trash ‘carries a bit of the willful excitement of vandalism’

Richmond Times-Dispatch outdoor columnist Andy Thompson has taken ownership of the James River Park. I wrote this past summer about how I had taken ownership of Pony Pasture and often go to the river for walks with my trusty bucket to snag any trash or recycling that I see. Andy had some great notes in his column and showed off his vast outdoors library:

Refrigerator pulled out of James at Pony Pasture!

The abandoned refrigerator at Pony Pasture Rapids has been pulled from the James River and left beside the trash recepticle along the River Trail. The mini-refrigerator had been floating about 50 yards east past the takeout this past weekend and I had been told it might have been there for a week or so.

Who pulled it out?  Take credit for your good deed please!

Anybody leave their refrigerator at Pony Pasture?

Did anybody lose a refrigerator at Pony Pasture Rapids? There is a mini-refrigerator about 50 yards east past the takeout. I wasn’t able to get it out by myself, it was water-logged and muddy. It didn’t seem like it had been there very long, but certainly needs to go. If anyone gets it out, it would probably be best to leave it at the parking lot and let the park system take care of it.

Clean trash on Riverside Drive Sunday

When: Sunday, February 13, 1–3 p.m.
 
Where: Pony Pasture Rapids parking Lot

What: It’s time to tidy up the Park! Meet at the Pony Pasture Parking lot to pick up trash from Oxford Parkway to Riverside at Parkview. The Friends of James River Park will provide the bags, but you’ll need to wear gloves and sturdy shoes that can withstand mud. Keep and eye out because you’ll never know what you’ll find!

What would your park be without you, oh steward?

Whenever I get a break and take a little time for myself and a walk in a park, I usually take a plastic bag or a bucket to collect trash — especially down by the James River. One of the easiest things for me to do to make myself feel like I’m being useful is picking up that one extra piece of trash or recycling and putting it in the right receptacle. It’s an uphill battle, but worth the time. My kids are learning to appreciate the earth along the way, which can’t hurt.

The outdoors columnist Andy Thompson has a similar approach with English Ivy and wrote about it in a recent Richmond Times-Dispatch column:

We’re all familiar with ivy. It can be quite lovely as an ornamental, but when it escapes human care, it becomes a menace. As with most non-native species, it evolved in a world where other species ate it, competed with it and limited its spread. This world offers none of those restrictions.

That’s why most of my winter walks — with baby, dogs or alone — turn in to attacks against ivy’s onslaught. I just can’t help it: When I see the vine that can grow up to eight feet a year inching its way up a maple sapling, the impulse grabs me. I rip at it. Pull it off the tree. Wrench it from the ground. Fling it to the side.

Anybody else have that desire to be a steward, that personal attachment to a park or landscape that makes you keep going back to clean trash, pull invasive species, ward off vandals, etc.? Do you bring your tools with you (bags, rakes, gloves, etc.)?