Clean-up 5/25/12

Hey folks,

We joined the friends of the north fork on Friday with a group of volunteer from Rugby Square Apts. and New Market North Apts. for a clean on the North fork. The grass gets so over grown this time of year that it’s hard to find ways in and out of the river but we managed to find a good spot and even did a little bit of highway pick-up as well. We will be going back out friday and are going to do a float and clean. Anyone interested in joining please e-mail earthkorps@yahoo.com and we’ll let you know how to get there and what time.  Enjoy our pics

-Captain

5/11/2012 River Clean

Hey folks,

We found a great spot on the river and by great it’s not the traditional great because it’s flu of litter but it’s great for us because we’ll be able to have lots of volunteers out and show you lots of great pictures. We did a fun clean today though and found some huge tires and a bunch of pieces of sharp metal that would be sure to cut someones leg off had they gotten caught on them. So you’re welcome future lieutenant Dans. As always please enjoy our pictures and stay posted I’ve got some info for a great event next weekend for you all. Mark your calendars for May 19th because we will be celebrating Murray’s Fly Shops 50th anniversary with great food from Sals italtian bistro and great music from the Shakedown Band.

-Captain

400 more from the river!

 

Well folks our little canoe trip weighed in at another 400 pounds. I haven’t done the math yet but that very well may have put us over the 50,000 pound mark. If not, we’re darn close. Keep posted for more Shenandoah River clean-up news. Don’t forget to buy your tickets to the Shenandoah Riverside Festival.  Come on out and see Rhonda Vincent and Iron Horse with us. The final line-up and band schedule is posted on the home page as well.

We will be doing another river clean sometime this weekend. If my memory serves me correct I believe that Friends of the North Fork are doing doing one of their annual clean-ups this weekend so lets get lots of folks out to give them a hand. More details to be posted soon. I believe this will be a Saturday clean.

-Captain

First Clean of the Year 4/1/12

Hey folks,

Well we finally got ourselves some good weather and had a chance to get out there on the river and do something. It was only a few of us but we got a whole lot done. We will plan another clean very soon so stay posted and remember to continue to support your local non-profit and spread the word about the things that are happening. We will have the weights in the next few days. Stay Tuned! As always enjoy our pictures. Also early bird tickets are running out for the Shenandoah Riverside Festival. Get your tickets and help Earth Korps help you by continuing our work on the water.

-Captain

 

 

March Newsletter

Hey folks,

Lots of big things going on here in Earth Korps land. First and foremost we are knee deep in blue grass and are gearing up for our annual fundraiser the Shenandoah Riverside Festival. We are featuring artists such as Rhonda Vincent, Iron Horse, Allen Thompson, Dry Mill Road, Circa Blue, Lonesome Highway, and many more. Please see www.shenandoahriversidefestival.com for more details. There are only 499 early bird discounted tickets for sale and they are going fast so please get your ahead of time because we’re warning you now, there aren’t many left.

Also we are getting ready to kick-off clean-up season because our weather has been so nice lately. Our first clean will be this Sunday March 25th at 9:00 A.M. at Burnshire dam in Woodstock. We are taking out a group of Centrals finest for our first clean and it should be a good time.

We are also in the process of now seeking sponsors for the overhead on our festival to offset cost. Sponsor names will be featured on both www.earthkorps.org and www.shenandoahriversidefestival.com and will also be on any banners or things we have at the show.

We still have spots left for a few more environmental non-profits to attend free of charge and spread the word about their cause at the festival. Please e-mail earthkorps@yahoo.com for more information

We still have food vending spots available and info for those can be reached by sending an e-mail to mike@waternmelonpark.com

We still have craft vending spot available and info for those can be reached by e-mail at casey.bergey@yahoo.com

We look forward to seeing all of you out on the river this year and remember that if you want your company to be featured during one of our river cleans or road cleans to send your interest in an e-mail to earthkorps@yahoo.com

Thanks to everyone who supports the Shenandoah River clean-up project.

Check Out Potomac River Keepers News on Trash!

February Edition: What’s Happening in Trash? Cleanup Time Site Leader Trainings Scheduled: Wednesday February 29th at 5:30 pm in Washington, DC Saturday March 3rd at 11:00 am in Accokeek, MD Saturday March 10th at 10:30 am in Fairfax, VA Register your sites now for the 24th Annual Potomac Watershed Cleanup.  Please follow the instructions provided here, or emailpotomaccleanup@fergusonfoundation.org with any questions. Last call for Sponsors to appear on the cleanup bag! If you are interested in sponsoring the cleanup and having your name printed on over 30,000 cleanup bags distributed throughout the watershed, please emaildevelopment@fergusonfoundation.org by Friday, February 3. Get Started Early: The Arlington Fairfax Chapter of the IWLA will be conducting a stream cleanup of Bull Run on Saturday, March 10, 2012 from 9:00 am – 12:00 noon.  For more information, visit www.potomaccleanup.org. Policy News Support the Maryland and Prince George’s County Bag Bill and Help Reduce Litter at Its Source!   Make a Video!  Since we cannot get all of the supporters to testify at the hearings, we are currently compiling videos of testimonies of citizens, small business owners, children etc., about why they would like to see fewer plastic bags blowing in their neighborhoods and clogging their local streams.  Find out how to get involved with the projects here. Sign this petition!  Urge the state General Assembly to give the County the ability to pass a bag fee.  This petition is only for Prince George’s County residents, so stay tuned for petition and news about the Maryland Bag Bill. Second Annual Litter Enforcement Month Police Departments & Sheriffs Offices of the Potomac Watershed: Do you want to be recognized as an active participant in the prevention of litter and illegal dumping? Registration for Litter & Illegal Dumping Enforcement Month April 1st – April 30th, 2012is now open. If you are Interested in participating in Litter Enforcement Month, send an email to Ashlea Smith at asmith@fergusonfoundation.org  “Littering and Illegal Dumping are crimes that affect community pride, safety, and well-being. We are glad to participate in Litter Enforcement Month and will focus on education both our officers and the people we serve about the environmental and social impacts of litter.” - Commander Russell Hamil, Montogomery County Police Dept., 2011 Have an Event or News to Share? If you would like to have your cleanup or other trash event to appear in this newsletter and/or website, please contactpotomaccleanup@fergusonfoundation.org

Reminder About Volunteer Registration

Hey Folks,

This is your captain speaking. Sorry for the continued delay in blogging. We have been exceptionally busy securing a new venue for 2012′s Shenandoah Riverside Festival, booking bands, and putting in some last minute grants that were all scrunched together. Needless to say, time is a little hard to find. I would like to remind everyone though that if you intend to come on out to a river clean-up day in 2012 we have a neat little system worked out now to where we can let folks know ahead of time. All you need to do is send an e-mail expressing your interest in the river to jenniferndalke@gmail.com and she will add you to the list. Don’t worry this does;t mean that you’ll be getting a bunch of junk mail. You’ll only be hearing about the most important events of Earth Korps, keeping you in the loop. Thanks to everybody for supporting the Shenandoah River clean-up project and we cannot wait to get back out on the water in some warmer weather to bring you pictures of our crazy finds again.

-Captain

2011: A short review of the year!

Hey folks,

We hope that everyone had a great Christmas and as the year draws to a close we thought that we’d go back and take a look at all of the crazy things that we got ourselves into during this year. It seems like we just get busier and busier the further we go along. This year we obviously were in up to our eyeballs in river trash but we also adopted 30 miles of the Shenandoah River, 3 miles of highway, started an entirely new part to the organization with the mono-filament project, made some great new partners and sponsors, put several new kids through community service projects, broke our own record of amount of trash puled from the river, added 3 new members to the Earth Korps family and even brought some of the greatest bands from near and far together to put on a heck of a show for our fans. 2011 I hope you feel that we were good to you because you were certainly good to us. Also and most importantly we’d like to again thank anyone and everyone who supports what we do be it in monetary contribution, lending us the things we need to get the job done, lending us your backs, or just for patting us on the back. The people are what makes this thing work and I’d like to thank you all sincerely. That being said, please enjoy a few pictures here as we recap just some of the things we have done this year.

-Captain

River Clean Pics From Sat Oct 15th

Hey Folks,

Sorry, been very busy over here in Earth Korps land and the Captain is also getting ready to kick off his legendary Belgravia Haunted Mansion this Friday the 21st. As you may remember we partnered with Friends of the North Fork for their annual Fall clean and boy did they have a lot of volunteers show up so we have some great pics for you. As always we hope you enjoy our work, keep passing the word on and make sure you come by for Belgravia Haunted Mansion.

-Captain

Weights from the other day.

Hey folks,

I finally got a chance to get these weights for you from our clean the other day. It looks like the final take was 320 pounds of recyclables plus about 150 pounds of metal bringing our total to 470 pounds of trash INcluding 7 tires and a peck deck machine! Not bad for the short amount of time it took to find that stuff.  Persay it took us an hour to find that and lets just round up to 500 pounds for math’s sake. of 10 people did what we just did once a week that would be 5,000 pounds of trash from the river a week, 20,000 pounds of trash a month, that would be 240,000 pounds of trash from the Shenandoah River a year. If only 10 people committed themselves to doing this and helping out. WOW! The numbers are incredible. Well, until next time keep on reading and supporting your local non-profit.

-Captain