June is shaping up to be the best month Shepherd Parkway has seen in decades.

On Wednesday, June 19, 25 students from Crosslake Lutheran Church in Crosslake, Minnesota will be coming to us through the Steinbrook Center for Urban Studies. Anyone who is interested in joining should email Nathan at nbharrington@yahoo.com.

Saturday, June 22, will be our final Community Clean-Up of the spring season. As always, we will be meeting at 4th and Newcomb Street SE at 10 AM.

The United Planning Organization, whose Petey Greene Center is two blocks from Shepherd Parkway and hosts monthly meetings of the Congress Heights Community Association, has signed on a partner in our campaign. They'll be helping with direct outreach to Ward 8 residents to expand our base of support and awareness of Shepherd Parkway as a community asset.  

Finally, throughout the week of June 24-28 church youth groups from Texas will be hauling from the woods what trash and invasive are still left.

We'll be taking off July and August off before roaring back into action with monthly clean-ups from in September through December 2013.

All told, it is not unrealistic to imagine that the 40 acre area north of Malcolm X Avenue could be virtually free of trash by the end of 2013.  What began as the most polluted wooded area in DC is about to be pristine again.

One Tire at a Time

Saturday, March 23 marked the third Shepherd Parkway community clean-up in as many months.

Participants included a boisterous group from the Wild Bunch Sports Bike Club of Maryland,  and American University's Zeta Psi fraternity.

During the February clean-up, a huge pile of tires and trash bags was left at the bottom of the escarpment below LeBaum Street because it was too slippery to haul up. Fifteen volunteers formed a chain to move it all up to the street, while others pulled dozens of bags full of trash off the slope just to the north.  In total, we removed an estimated 200 tires and 300 bags of trash from the forest.

A small but enthusiastic group from University of Maryland rescued trees south of Malcolm X Avenue from invasive English Ivy. 

Spring has sprung, and Shepherd Parkway is growing healthier and more beautiful with every clean-up event. 

Mark your calendars now for our next best chance on Saturday, April 20 from 10 am to 1 pm. 

The job is immense but every little bit counts. We need you, and your friends.