FORT EUSTIS, Va. –
Tracy Campbell and Lawrence Hadsell trekked across the asphalt near the barracks carrying a bucket filled with everything they needed to send a message: "NO DUMPING - DRAINS TO WATERWAY."
With some caulk and a little elbow grease, the pair helped others affix more than 100 blue and silver medallions near storm drains to let people know that dumping in or near the drain pollutes the Chesapeake Bay.
Campbell and Hadsell were part of a group of nearly 45 volunteers who came together April 16 to kick off Joint Base Langley-Eustis' Earth Day activities, filled with ways to help the environment and educate the public. Other volunteers helped clean up Fort Eustis' mile-and-a-half nature trail, plant some flowers, and mulch beds armed with pitchforks, shovels and rakes - tidying up what Mother Nature messed up over the winter.
Each volunteer sported a bright green T-shirt with two logos, The Army's "Moving to Protect our World" and the Air Force's "Conserve Today. Secure Tomorrow," to show the partnership both bases have to make Earth Week a success.
"It's a time when we not only do some things that help the environment, it's a time of education for all those who get involved," said Arba Williamson, pollution prevention branch manager, 733rd Civil Engineer Division, or Mr. Earth Day as some folks call him.
During their medallion-installation rounds, Campbell, of the Army Training Support Center, and Hadsell, with the 362nd Training Squadron, Detachment 1, discovered a dusty sports car with a pan of oil behind its tail end in the barracks parking lot. Campbell said she couldn't believe it when she saw it.
The pair called Paul James, environmental protection specialist, who immediately came to the scene to figure out the owner of the car.
The violation was a perfect example of why the medallions are placed around storm drains, as a reminder to Soldiers that dumping anything near or in the drains pollutes not only local waterways, but also the Chesapeake Bay.
The medallions, as well as other storm water management practices have made a difference in keeping runoff and pollutants out of the Bay, said Susan Miller, environmental element chief at Fort Eustis.
"Our efforts are working," said Miller, who has worked to support the Army post's environment since 1993. "It's really the actions of everybody that makes the impact."
The week-long celebration at Fort Eustis from April 16 to 20 also included environmental displays around the base; banners at the gate; rain-garden maintenance with General Stanford Elementary School students; rip-rap installation along Harrison Road; retention pond maintenance; Brown's Lake plantings; and shoreline cleanup and plantings near the James River Reserve Fleet. A box turtle count, which can show the general health of an area's environment, was also part of the Earth Week efforts.
Langley Air Force Base, Va., is celebrating Earth Week April 23-27, and readers can expect coverage in the May 4 Peninsula Warrior.