Wheaton Branch Cleanup 2005 Update
In the fall, the Izaak Walton League of America (IWLA) and Friends of Sligo Creek installed a "litter skimmer" just upstream of the Wheaton Branch Stormwater Ponds. This is the first of what we hope will be many "litter skimmers" around various locations in the Sligo Creek watershed. This is also part of a larger effort of the IWLA to install skimmers throughout Montgomery County, particularly focusing on tributaries to the Anacostia River.
Photo of an Izaak Walton League skimmer in Tennessee
Photo Credit to: TN Izaak Walton League
About the "litter skimmers"
Izaak Walton League of America members (Ikes), based in Knoxville, Tennessee, created an innovative tool called "litter skimmer." Skimmers are made up: plastic gallon jugs, warning fence, rope and zip ties. Combining these recycled materials together creates a skimming device that lies across waterways as a method of litter control. Skimmers capture floating trash, keeping it stationary for two reasons:
- to keep it from heading downstream, and
- to allow easy pick up for area volunteers, who monitor the skimmer.
Once created, the skimmers lie across waterways to catch floating trash that flushes from impervious surfaces into storm drains, destined to end up in waterways like Sligo Creek. Last year alone, Ikes in Tennessee collected 1,500 bags of trash caught by the skimmers. You can read more about the skimmer's success by ordering an archive copy of our Fall 2004 issue of Outdoor America (http://www.iwla.org/oa/fall/).
Photo Credit to: TN Izaak Walton League
In addition, the skimmer project, both the creation and implementation, provides service learning and community service opportunities for students from DC and Maryland schools. Skimmers are easily assembled (ideal and safe for students to create) and a wonderful tool for kids to care for their own watershed.
You cannot ignore a skimmer once you have seen it; its bring orange color immediately grabs your attention. But, the true beauty is items that would have filled our area streams and landfills are being created into tools to restore them instead.
To learn more about the litter skimmer project, e-mail Debbie Veliz, Izaak Walton League of America or Ed Murtagh from Friends of Sligo Creek. To learn more about the Izaak Walton League of America, please visit: the Isaac Walton League website.
Clean Up Efforts In Wheaton Branch Stormwater Ponds:
This year we had both a spring and fall clean up effort at the ponds. In both instances we had good participation from surrounding community and we always remove a lot of trash. The trash skimmer mentioned above was installed soon after the fall clean up, so we are hoping subsequent clean ups are easier to accomplish. Montgomery County Dept of Environmental Protection, who maintains the stormwater ponds, indicated that they have a contract agreement to have the ponds regularly cleaned. None of the community volunteers, however, have ever noticed any of these clean up efforts.