Interested in environmental issues and/or doing your part to help the environment? Below are a few of the upcoming local community cleanup events and workshops seeking participants and volunteers.

March 6       Shoreline Stabilization Workshop

• This workshop is for residents living on the water, particularly the Occoquan Reservoir. Workshop is from 9 a.m. to noon at the McCoart Bldg in the County Complex in Woodbridge.

March 20      Dale City Civic Association Stream Cleanup 

• Cleanup will be held at Andrew Leitch Park in Woodbridge.

March 22      NoVa Outside Kickoff – “Does Outside Make Us Healthier”

• This event will be held at the George Mason University (Arlington Campus).

March 27      Wildlife Habitat project and planting at Bristoe Station Battlefield

April 10      Conservation Project at Julie J. Metz Wetlands Bank

April 10      Trails improvement project at Prince William Forest Park

April 17/April 18      Dale City Civic Association 

• Commuter lot cleanup will be at Dale City & Gemini. See satellite map of “redlined” area for cleanup.

April 17      Operation Cleanup at Prince William Forest Park

April 17      Earth Day Summit

• Event will be held in the PWC Plaza adjacent to the McCoart Bldg in the County Complex in Woodbridge from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m

April 27      PWCSA, PW Clean Community Council and PWC Park Authority Adopt-a-Stream Cleanup

• Cleanup will be held at Veterans Memorial Park in Woodbridge from 9 am to Noon. Lunch provided.

Sheri Pierce presenting to art students at Osbourn Park Senior High School.

Classroom presentations about the upcoming Water Art Invitational 2010 are completed. PWCSA’s Community Outreach Coordinator, Sheri Pierce, promoted the annual contest and event at several area public high schools including Battlefield High School, C.D. Hylton High School, Woodbridge High School, Freedom High School Gar-Field, Osbourn Park High School, and the private school, Seton School. Ms. Pierce saw over 50 classes and presented to over 500 students about the contest’s rules, prize money, and showed the Water Art Invitational’s promotional video.  Many teachers are incorporating the Water Art Invitational 2010 contest as an SOL-based classroom assignment as well.

More school presentations are currently being scheduled at other high schools in PWC.

Several PWCSA employees were among the many volunteers at a cleanup at the Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge on Saturday, November 7, 2009 from 10 am – 11:30 am.  The Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge contains one square mile of grasslands and tidal marshes and serves as a critical habitat for migratory birds. Over 200 species of birds and 600 species of plants have been identified there.

The cleanup, which was sponsored by the Friends of the Potomac River Refuges, gave local citizens the opportunity to help clean up one of the largest remaining open spaces in Northern Virginia. A member of the Friends of the Potomac River Refuges also offered an educational presentation about the impacts of pollution on habitat and wildlife to children volunteers.

PWCSA’s Community Outreach Coordinator, Sheri Pierce, was one of over a hundred volunteers at the 20th annual Prince William County Soil and Water Conservation District’s Farm Field Days held at the Prince William County Fairgrounds on October 6th and October 7th.

Throughout the two-day event, over 1600 4th grade students from area schools visited several barns where they learned and experienced hands-on presentations with farm animals, agriculture, and Virginia Regions among others.

Some students met and experienced farm animals for the very first time at Farm Field Days.

Ms. Pierce helped out at the Save Our Soils Barn where students learned about the effects construction, pollution, and erosion have on soils and our local waterways.

Ringing a cow bell as one of the event's time-keepers was just one of Ms. Pierce's duties as a volunteer at the two-day event.

Selected students from each group played a game where they learned about how silt fences at construction sites are used to prevent pollutants from running off into waterways during a rainstorm.

A display showing the affects of erosion on water quality the Save Our Soils Barn.

On Monday, August 24, 2009, the Service Authority was one of several local organizations invited to participate as an exhibitor at the the Prince William County School District’s Teachers F.I.R.S.T. Orienation Program at Forest Park High School in Woodbridge.  More than 300 teachers new to Prince William County Schools had the opportunity to stop by each exhibit before, during, and after the many educational sessions offered to help prepare them for the upcoming school year.

The Service Authority’s exhibit featured the Enviroscape® Drinking and Wastewater Treatment Model, which Community Outreach Coordinator Sheri Pierce frequently presents to classes to county schools. Also offered to teachers were many water-related handouts to incoporate into their science curriculums this year.

Click below to view a brief slideshow of PWCSA’s participation at the event!

The Service Authority hosted an activity during the day-long 4-H Fair Camp held at the Prince William County Fairgrounds on Thursday, August 20, 2009. Participants, ranging in age from 5-12, learned about the Value of Clean Tap Water. Over 120 campers enjoyed illustrating posters depicting their favorite use of water. Campers received goody bags that included a PWCSA mood pencil, “Smarties” candy, and water-themed activity sheets.

Click on the photo album below to view images from this fun day at the PWC Fair!