April 13, 2019 Friends of the Occoquan River Cleanup Early morning rain did not deter 229 devoted volunteers to help with FOTO’s spring cleanup of the Occoquan River & Reservoir at the Bull Run, Fountainhead, Occoquan Regional, Lake Ridge Parks/Marinas and the Town of Occoquan. Families with their children, Students from Lake Ridge Middle, Marsteller Middle, Woodbridge Senior High and Osborn High schools, Boy Scout Troops 1352 and Pack 295, Girl Scout Troop 2016 and Woodbridge High’s JR ROTC cadets, NOVA GO with kayaks, Bull Run Rotary, Optimist and Ambassador Clubs, SEV1Tech company with 31 employees, Young Professionals and Sea Scout Ship 7916, Mike Nardolilli, Executive Director of ICPRB and Chairman of NOVA Parks combed the shores and went out by boat to retrieve trash that had accumulated over the winter months. Harry Wiggins and Glenn Richman of Lake Ridge helped out by bringing truckloads of filled plastic bags from the shorelines to the Marina. FOTO continued transition from plastic bags to biodegradables. A big “thank you” goes to all the park managers and their staff, Mike Tiller, Lake Ridge Park Manager and Lance Elzie, Manager of Bull Run & Fountainhead Park, and Mark Mermelstein of the Occoquan Regional Park for their help and disposing of the trash. Also much appreciated are FOTO members who manned the signup stations, Linda Murray, Kimm Barry, Sonia Monson, Alex & Jacqueline Vanegas, Renate Vanegas, Alex Smith and the Town of Occoquan’s Julie Little. Among the 132 bags of trash & recyclables, were also 2 large oil barrels, trash cans, paint cans, a steel locker, a mattress, Styrofoam pieces, a fence and animal trap. Since the Occoquan Reservoir is the source of Northern Virginia’s drinking water, FOTO is grateful for all the volunteers who spent their weekend relieving the Occoquan of 2 tons of trash.
