Finding Time Stewardship || Clean the Bay Day

Volunteers cleaning the trailhead.

June offers many opportunities to get outside and enjoy what the outdoors offers. June also provides stewardship opportunities such as Clean the Bay Day and National Trails Day events.

The Friends of the Low Appomattox (FOLAR) hosted Clean the Bay Day as one of their enduring Stewardship Saturdays.

Over 25 volunteers were in attendance for the event. They provided a couple of hours of manpower to pick up trash and invasive plant removal. Our area of focus for this event was Rotary Park at Pocahontas Island, located in Petersburg Virginia.

This section of the Appomattox River Trail is located on Pocahontas Island, a 70-acre peninsula on the north side of the Appomattox River. Pocahontas Island was listed on both the Virginia Landmarks Register and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006. Some of Petersburg's first enslaved blacks were brought here to work in 1732. The island is known to be home to the oldest African-American communities in the Nation. Today it's a small community of about 70 residences. 

Evidence has been found of prehistoric indigenous people of North America on the island. This would have dated back to the Archaic period in North America. 

Pocahontas Island is an underserved community, and providing a service as simple as picking up trash and invasive plant removal can make an impact on multiple levels. We picked up 700-800 lbs of trash in about 2 1/2 hours. 

One of two piles of trash collected.

I have set a goal for myself in 2023 to volunteer once a month with some type of Stewardship project. I enjoy volunteer events like this because I meet and interact with people who are outside of my sphere of influence.

Now It's Your Turn-

Did you volunteer on Clean the Bay Day or National Trails Day? Please share with us the stewardship projects that you have worked on.

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Finding Time for Stewardship

Appomattox River Trail University Blvd