Volunteers are needed for a much-anticipated  trash cleanup in the remote west end of North Bank Park under the Boulevard Bridge on Saturday, Feb. 4. The area is about a half-mile hike from the nearest parking lot, and it has been a couple of years since there was a big effort to collect trash there. This is the best time of year to clean, as the underbrush is dormant and the trash will be easier to reach.

Drivers seem to toss drinks from cars, garbage has been dumped over the side and plenty of trash has either been brought to this area by the river or the people that roam the shoreline. This cleanup has the blessing of the Friends of James River Park and James River Park manager Ralph White has committed some assistance with trash bags, ropes and will collect and dispose of all the trash and recycling we can recover. We have some volunteers already committed and would love to have a small army to attack this project.

This will require some hard work and commitment. We may need to bag trash and haul it by rope to the top of the bridge to avoid having to hike with the trash all the way back to the North Bank parking lot. We have contacted the City of Richmond about getting access to the area through a temporary bridge over the canal at the new Pump House at Pump House Road, just west of the Boulevard Bridge. That is a long shot, but would make the clean up much easier to conduct.

The date of the cleanup will be February 4 (Super Bowl weekend) from 9 a.m. to noon, with February 11 as a rain date. Volunteers will need to meet in the parking lot of North Bank Park. There will likely be a need for other volunteers to drive to the gravel lot off Pump House Drive to help pull up the trash to the deck of the bridge or to help carry the trash bags over the canal if we are given access to cross the train tracks and use that facility.

Please bring gloves, warm clothes with long sleeves and pants legs. We will need some people to bring clippers or loppers, as there will be some underbrush to clear.

Questions, please contact Phil Riggan [philriggan at yahoo.com or 432-3088]

Thank you!