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The Green Towson Alliance, a non-profit coalition of local environmental volunteers, recently announced that its members and other volunteers cleared nearly 7 tons of trash from neighborhood steams, and that the group successfuly lobbied the state for more trees on publicly owned land in Towson.
Over the past two months GTA volunteers cleaned out 6.75 tons of trash from local streams. The items they removed included car bumpers, cinder blocks, chairs, a table umbrella, a shopping cart, and a 100 pound truck tire. That was along with a collection of hubcaps, glass, plastic bottles, and aluminum cans.
One group of GTA volunteers found an illicit discharge site in Knollwood — which they think was likely from a sump pump — emptying into into the Herring Run stream and reported it to authorities.
The GTA worked with the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay to coordinate clean-ups of streams at 21 sites from late March through early May. More than 400 volunteers cleaned up the streams and cleared away debris and litter to save mature trees and restore the natural beauty of the local streams. Invasive vines were also cleared away at two locations, to help save mature trees in the watershed.
Volunteers included Towson University students, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, Youth Group members of the Towson Presbyterian Church and the Woodbrook Baptist Church, students from Loyola Blakefield’s Environmental Club, community residents, county and state elected officials and GTA members. The streams included branches of the Herring Run and the Jones Falls/Lake Roland tributaries from Towson Run and from Roland Run.
“I think the huge response to invitations to help clean the streams reflects strong interest in the health of our environment. Many people realize that having clean water, clean air and healthy neighborhoods depends on local participation, and people are happy to help,” said Carol Newill, a retired physician and co-founder of the GTA.
“I am delighted that so many teenagers and young adults gave time from their weekends, and that elected officials helped too — State Delegate Steve Lafferty, and County Councilpersons David Marks and Cathy Bevins. County crews picked up the huge piles of trash at all the sites, and placed new trash cans by Loch Raven Library where the stream ravine had been badly littered,” Newill said.
The GTA said it also worked with Councilman David Marks and the Maryland State Highway Administration to get a promise of about 80 native trees planted in five Towson-area locations. The SHA will plant the trees on Charles Street and Perring Parkway this fall.
“Close to eighty new native trees is an excellent start,” said the GTA’s Wendy Jacobs, who spearheaded the tree effort. “Hopefully many more will follow in the communities encircling downtown Towson.”
Photos courtesy of J Brough Schamp