LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. –
Langley members will get the chance to help save the shoreline with the 20th annual Clean the Bay Day event scheduled for June 7 at 9 a.m. at Eagle Park.
Sign-in will start at 8:30 a.m. for the event, which is organized by the 1st Civil Engineer Squadron.
According to H. Reed Jeavons, the 1st CES natural resource planner and U.S. Air Force Chesapeake Bay program coordinator, volunteers collected 3 tons of trash from the shoreline during last year's event -- which was a 33 percent increase from 2006.
The litter usually found along the shoreline consists of paper, pop cans and plastic bags. Some of the more unusual items found last year were a 5-gallon bucket, a 6-foot electrical poll, an unopened Universal Remote Control and a message in a bottle.
The Chesapeake Bay watershed consists of Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, Delaware, New York and Washington, D.C. The Hampton Roads area is located at the southern tip of the Chesapeake Bay watershed -- the last stop before the Atlantic Ocean. This means all of the pollution, debris and litter from all of the other areas in the watershed passes through Hampton Roads.
Hampton Roads is one of the most important ecological regions- yet one of the most threatened in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, according to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation's Web site. At one time, this area had some of the most thriving oyster grounds in the entire Chesapeake Bay. Now, the remaining natural oyster population barely sustains commercial fishery due to overfishing, disease and pollution.
To volunteer, call Anhthu Nguyen at 764-1135.