Dora Kelley Cleanup Coming Saturday

West End residents are invited to join the Friends of Dora Kelley Nature Park for its spring cleanup on Saturday.

Dora Kelley is the largest nature park in Alexandria. Twice a year, the Friends organize volunteers to spend a morning picking up litter, which ranges from plastic bottles and candy wrappers to discarded tires and grocery carts. The debris collects throughout the park, especially near the trails winding through the tract and along the stream bank of Holmes Run, which empties into the Potomac River.

The cleanup—timed to occur before the spring foliage can conceal the trash—is coordinated with the staff of the Jerome “Buddie” Ford Nature Center, which provides volunteers with gloves, plastic bags and grabbers. Some participants wear wading boots so they can venture into the marsh, which is home to ducks, turtles, frogs and other wildlife.

Children are welcome. The spring and fall cleanups have been taking place for nearly two decades.

Volunteers can pick up cleanup supplies at the nature center or at any of the following three entrances into the park: the Chambliss Street tennis courts (below the rear parking lot of John Adams School), the Holmes Run entrance (near Dowden Terrace Swimming Pool) and North Morgan Street, near the intersection with North Beauregard Street. The cleanup starts at 9 a.m. and lasts until about noon.

The rain date is Sunday. Residents with questions can contact Dave Dexter at davedexter09@starpower.net or 703-820-6639, or call Jane Yeingst at the nature center at 703-746-5559.