Paddling Green on the Potomac

Written by Michelle and Jayson Huston, two ACA members who are dedicated to cleaning up their local waterways near their home in West Virginia. 

Once high water had receded and before spring vegetation grew in, my husband and I hit up an area of the Potomac River that we've noticed tends to collect and holds a LOT of trash and debris on its shores. 

It took us about 4.5 hours, which included two trips back and forth between the slackwater bend where most of the trash accumulates and the ramp to fill the truck. The sad part is that there was still more, and likely will be more following subsequent high water events. 

However, we'll keep picking at this area (and others) as we typically keep our ACA paddle green bags on board any time we're afloat and spend some time collecting what we can carry and moving large items (like the 55-gal drums) up above flood lines to collect later.

How do you #PaddleGreen? Send your stewardship stories to Catharine Lloyd at clloyd@americancanoe.org, and get involved in the ACA's Stream to Sea Initiative today.