Deep Run Gets a Deep Cleaning

Elkridge got a head-start on Earth Day, thanks to approximately 10 volunteers who spiffed up a section of Deep Run this weekend.

"It is a hidden but important tributary to the Patapsco," said volunteer Tim Titus, who led the April 2 cleanup, which was concentrated behind Deep Run Parkway in Elkridge.

Titus is a member of Friends of Patapsco Valley and Heritage Greenway, the environmentally focused nonprofit group that sponsored multiple stream cleanups on Saturday—in Elkridge, Ellicott City, Catonsville and Oella.

Elkridge resident and executive director of Friends of Patapsco Valley and Heritage Greenway Betsy McMillion visited all the sites to take pictures. "It wouldn't be a cleanup without a ball, a shoe and a tire," said McMillion, capturing the findings at Deep Run.

The Elkridge group, which included several students from Howard Community College, found not one but two balls, two tires, sneakers, plus a vacuum and many other items.

As volunteers picked up debris in and around Deep Run, their likeminded counterparts were doing the same along some of the 10,000 streams and rivers that feed into the Chesapeake Bay. Annually, the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay organizes a concentrated stream cleanup effort called "Project Clean Stream" on the first Saturday in April. Last year, more than 3,000 volunteers helped clean up 140 sites, according to the alliance.

Throughout the spring, Friends of Patapsco Valley and Heritage Greenway will be holding additional cleanups and activities to celebrate local cultural and environmental heritage.