Scouts and volunteers clean up Don Edwards National Wildlife Refuge
Staff Writer
On March 15th, almost 100 volunteers, mostly students at local high schools, gathered at the Don Edwards National Wildlife Refuge to help protect the local ecosystem. This event, organized by the Scouts of America, the Greenbelt Alliance, and the refuge, aims to protect the San Francisco Bay’s few remaining wetlands by enlisting volunteers to help weed out invasive species and pick up trash around the refuge.
The event took place early in the morning, from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM, and the volunteers were divided into two groups: the weeders and trash cleaners. For three hours, Scouts traveled along the trails and used pickaxes to pull out the nearest patches of weed. Others traveled across the marsh to collect any plastics and cans they could see.
“I came here to be a role model,” Parnika Bhat (9) said, “It’s my friends’ first time doing environmental work, so I hope they become more interested so we can do work like this.”
Another set of volunteers piled weeds into a giant stack. “We started at the bottom and cleaned up a whole area of thistle and mustard. It’s crazy how many invasive species there are,” Abheer Krishnanand (10) of Mission San José HS said.
Volunteers dig up and collect invasive species such as mustard and thistle into a giant pile (Photo Credit: Ivan Chu (11)).
In an earlier speech, the organizers shared a similar message to raise this kind of youth awareness about the need to conserve the environment of Don Edwards preserve. Invasive species steal resources from native plants, which results in the destruction of the ecosystem.
“This event is all about community engagement and bringing youth [into] nature,” Aidone Kakouros, a botanist and ecologist, said as she watched the Scouts hard at work.
Victorina Arvelo, the resilience manager for the Greenbelt Alliance, commented on the importance of this cleanup. “We’re giving native plants a chance,” she said. “This helps maintain the wetlands and allow them to act like a sponge and absorb extra water from the rising sea levels. If we lose them, then we’re going to be more at risk of flooding the sewer system or our homes.”
“Don Edwards is directly in our backyard and it is such a unique ecosystem. It could be gone within a couple of years if we don’t take care of it,” Eve Marie Little, Newark’s Vice Mayor and organizer of this event, said.
The volunteers at this event shared a similar sentiment. “Most people come here to hike and I feel like it’s just as important to give back if you hike here or hang out. Flooding is getting worse and even just cleaning up really helps with protecting our environment,” said Saanvi Harish (8), a member of Thornton Middle School’s Environmental Science Club, and of Scouts Troop 2273.
As the event winded down, some attendees surveyed all the work they accomplished. “I want all of the Scouts to really appreciate the beauty that we have around us,” Little said. “This place is gorgeous and it’s just such a blessing to have something like this so close by.”
The Don Edwards Refuge plans to host another cleanup event on April 19th.
The organizers of the cleanup proudly display the giant pieces of trash that the volunteers collected during the event (Photo Credit: Ivan Chu (11)).
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