Loved rescuing native plants from the construction zone for later planting in the park. Great leadership. We even attracted some passing park visitors to help rescue and learn about native vs invasive plants. Let’s do it again soon.
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Nice day for trash picking. Tried the TrashBlitz app. For a solo or small family group,it’s unworkable. I tried doing my trash list after the fact and would have recorded hours of work as less than an hour. I can’t imagine it working with one recorder for a large group because the data entry takes so long. I can’t see my phone well enough in daylight to do all the selections. It took me 20 minutes to figure out how to enter 2 diapers. How many layers? Material? Like I have a clue. And the plastic type of mud covered fast food forks—how would I know? I gave up after that.
Great day for a solo cleanup at Bull Creek District Park, with colorful wildflowers dotting the landscape. Got thanked by several hikers and dog walkers—carrying a picker/grabber tool apparently makes it clear you’re working. Two college age guys sitting cross legged on rocks in midstream hauled out my biggest and bulkiest find: a full size beach umbrella (see photo) half buried in flood silt, about 4 feet above the waterline. The rest of trash I carried out in my trash bag. Cerveza Modelo in glass bottles seems to be the favorite beer of the don't-pack-it-out crowd. Other detritus included a golf ball; a baseball; a man's shoe; assorted socks; fast food wrappers, bags, and condiments tubs and packets; plastic bags from small fragments to big black garbage bags; a red wax pencil that I kept; as well as the usual stuff.
I suckered 2 friends into accompanying me this fine evening. Cleaned up Bull Creek Greenbelt. Started at Spicewood Valley Trail, but it was too clean. That’s a nice problem to have. So we went to the greenbelt just north of St Edwards Park and collected trash along the creek trail and at the informal parking area. Recent rains made collecting along the creek mucky. The area needs some invasive removal done: Ligustrum, Nandina, Johnsongrass.
The rough leaf dogwood is doing its best to provide fall color. I checked a 0.3 mile stretch of the southern bank of Bull Creek On the Greenbelt Trail, Lower. Either someone already cleaned it up or this less traveled side of the creek doesn’t get many picnic and drinking visitors. The total haul was a few pieces of hard plastic, a couple of bags of dog poop, and some small plastic bags. There was one beer can far back in the poison ivy but I broke mt grabber tool Saturday so I didn’t retrieve it. The few people I encountered and one big dog thanked me for cleaning up anyway.
Two kitchen bags of trash removed from 0.4 miles of Bull Creek Greenbelt Trail (Lower) along the creek under 360. Took photos of one bag's contents. The haul included styrofoam plates, cups, and cooler parts; lots of plastic bags of all sizes; bottles and cans; a small US flag 😢; empty ketchup packets; one broken rock climbing knee pad; plastic food containers; used diaper and incontinence pad (seriously, people?); and (sniff) my grabber tool after one of its pincers broke off.
I was unable to remove the old automobile that washed up in a flood, so it remained half-buried on the creek bank. I tossed a whole red onion further into the shrubbery to decompose. I brought home a large beer glass to donate and the flag to take to the VFW for respectful disposal. I recycled the bottles and cans and tossed the garbage. I’m still processing how I feel about a double-size dumpster permanently parked at a public park. I talked to a couple of kids who wanted to know what I was doing (picking up trash) and then why? They seemed surprised when their mom explained that some people don't throw out their own trash.
It’s more fun to do it with a group, but it was still fun. The asters are still blooming, the creek is flowing well, there’s a new crop of cricket frogs (<0.25 inches long), the foliage is trying its best to fall color, and I was rewarded with a great sunset.