Saturday March 31st, the Severn Riverkeeper Program and the Severn River Association  sponsored a stream cleanup as part of the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay's annual "Project Stream Clean."  Over sixty volunteers donated their time and muscles to cleaning tires and trash from Jabez Branch.  This stream has been notable for its reproducing population of brook trout, said to be the only one within Maryland's Coastal Plain. Volunteers assembled at Strayer University and B&B Heating & A/C and cleared all trash from around and between these properties, and along Jabez Run and Hog Farm Roads.

The primary targets were the two dumpsites of tires and metal behind B&B.  Although the County DPW provided a winch to help lift the ties up the steep slope, it only worked for about the first 25 tires.  We then created a human chain of over 25 volunteers to remove most of the "loose" tires, and brought up over 275 additional tires.  These volunteers also brought out much metallic and other trash that could be readily removed from the hillsides and hand-carried.  (A few objects remain that are either embedded in the hillside or were too heavy for volunteers to lift.)

The DPW crew worked hard to remove all this trash, providing a loader to take it from the top of the hillside to the several trucks waiting at roadside.  They took 10 truckloads to the landfill, four of which contained the estimated 300 tires, for a total of 15,260 pounds of trash removed from Jabez.

Additionally, a stalwart crew of 3 cleaned along Saltworks Creek, in areas not reached at last years cleanup, and removed 4 tires, 3 rims, 2 55-gallon drums, and a total of almost 1,000 pounds of trash that they took to the Landfill.

Everyone is to be congratulated for a stupendous effort in cleaning up this valualbe tributary.   We hope the County re-assesses the overall condition of Jabez Run, and now gives it a high mark!