This past Sturday FLOW partnered with Anheuser-Busch (AB) to do a clean up at Glen Echo Ravine. The event went from 9:00am-12:00pm and concluded with a Budweiser toast at Patrick J’s in Clintonville. The cleanup included volunteers from AB Columbus, FLOW members and community volunteers. 

The event included trash pickup from the stream/ravine/park and invasive species removal from a local pollinator garden. It also was the maiden voyage for FLOW’s GOPRO camera which I kept with me for the duration of the cleanup. 

During the course of the cleanup park goers would stop and join in grabbing a bag and some gloves, and a local kid and his dad assisted while we spotted some Crayfish in the creek. 

Some interesting items found include several bank cards, an Engineers Scale, and aWoman’s size 8 shoe. We removed 242 pounds of trash and filled 11 yard waste bags with removed Japanese Knotweed and Honeysuckle which are both invasive species. 

At the same time as the cleanup the Glen Echo birding club was making its weekly walk through the ravine and stopped to show me some pictures of a Barred Owl that was being chased by a Coooper’s hawk. They invited me to like their facebook page and to come back for a future walk with them. 

The pollinator garden was also mulched and planted with parsley and various native wildflower seeds. 

AB was a great partner and from what I gathered sounded like a great place to work at. The shirts for volunteering are pretty awesome and I’m happy to wear the one that I received.