As part of its ongoing mission to educate and engage citizens to play an active role in the stewardship of the local environment, Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful (GCB) teamed up with Gwinnett County Department of Water Resources (GWR) to host the Third Annual Great Gwinnett Wetlands.
Held on April 29, the earth-friendly event focused on Bromolow Creek and Wetland – a key wetland in Gwinnett County. In attendance at the event were community leaders from the Gwinnett County Department of Water Resources who share GCB’s passion for preserving and protecting the county’s waterways and wetlands. Throughout the day, 230 volunteers learned why wetlands are so important, and were inspired to pick up litter, evaluate the water and surrounding ecosystem, and remove invasive plants that could potentially threaten the health of the wetland.
“Over the course of four hours, we monitored the wetland’s water quality, picked up 3,320 pounds of trash, removed close to 2,400 pounds of privet, and installed four coconut fiber logs to protect the wetland from erosion and allow it to absorb water for better flood control,” said GCB Program Manager Sumner Gann. “Not only are those results incredibly impactful, but the sight of hundreds of volunteers working together to clean and beautify this community we all share was more than moving. Based on the fact that the amount of trash we removed this year had increased by about 420 pounds over last year’s results, it’s clear that we need to continue to educate the public on the many reasons why it’s important to put litter in its place. We all need to work together to protect and maintain these wetlands and precious water sources like the Chattahoochee River, Yellow River and Lake Lanier. Great programs like Adopt-A-Road and Adopt-A-Stream can help do just that.
“Fortunately, we are having a positive impact where invasive plants are concerned on this particular wetland. We only had to remove half of what we’d removed the year before,” she added. “All in all, Great Gwinnett Wetlands was an awesome success and we are so incredibly grateful to our awesome partners at Gwinnett County Department of Water Resources and our incredible volunteers for making that possible.”
Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful also extends its gratitude to The Aviation Institute of Maintenance, Gwinnett Parks and Recreation, and Gwinnett County Communications for their part in ensuring the event’s success, as well as to a number of local businesses and organizations that provided team leaders for the event. Included among them were Gwinnett Water Resources, Jacobs Engineering, CH2M Hill, Gresham Smith and Partners, City of Griffin, The Master Gardeners and Precision Planning – just to name a few.
To learn about future Gwinnett Clean & Beautiful cleanup and educational events, interested individuals and groups are encouraged to visit www.gwinnettcb.org.
(Photo by Nick Jokay)