Friends of the Occoquan

FOTO NEWS, December, 2005.

Norah Lovato, one of our directors who now resides in California, was in Washington, DC for the past three weeks, to help with the Red Cross relief effort.

Alex and Betty Vanegas collected 426 lbs of food articles and delivered it to the Capital Area Food Bank. Click here to read FoodBank Letter

Renate and German Vanegas joined the Johns Hopkins University alumni to answer phones during WETA’s pledge drive.

Ray Sandwick, FOTO director, and his wife Toni, returned from one year stay in Switzerland. The Sandwicks reside in the Plains, VA.

The Alexandria City Earth Day Committee has invited FOTO to participate in next year's event. German A. Vanegas attended the initial meeting held on December 12, 2005 in Alexandria, where a tentative date was set for April 22, 2006 to celebrate this event. FOTO will work with the Spanish speaking community of Northern Virginia to make this Earth Day celebration a success.

AS PART OF OUR PROGRAM OF ENGAGING THE SPANISH SPEAKING COMMUNITY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA, FOTO SPONSORED TWO EVENTS, ONE IN THE FALL’04 AND ANOTHER IN THE SPRING’05.

EVENT AT JENNIE DEAN PARK, FOUR MILE RUN, ARLINGTON.

The first event took place on Saturday, November 13, 2004, 12 noon to 2 pm, when we joined forces with Arlingtonians for a Clean Environment to organize a cleanup of the Four Mile Run. FOTO provided snacks and refreshments. Volunteers received a certificate of appreciation from Governor Warner of Virginia.

Thirty seven volunteers met at the park along the Jennie Dean Park and collected several trash bags, mattresses and other heavy objects. The following            volunteers participated:

The Jennie Dean Park is located in Shirlington, next to the Four Mile Run, 3630 27th Street, Arlington, VA, where several bilingual signs have been posted.

October 18, 2003- Clean up 

Friends of the Occoquan wishes to thank all the volunteers that contributed to a very successful and productive Fall 2003 Clean up of the Occoquan watershed.

WOODBRIDGE, VA, October 18, 2003 – Volunteers from around the area and as far as Silver Spring, MD came to the Lake Ridge Marina, Bull Run Marina, Fountainhead Park, and the Town of Occoquan to volunteer their time and energy to help clean up the Occoquan watershed.  Individuals and community groups including SGM Joe Neely, SFC Fred Elliott and cadets from the Woodbridge High School JROTC, Boy Scouts Troop 1115 of McLean, George Mason University, Godwin Middle School and the Bull Run Rotary Club came out and spent a beautiful Saturday morning hauling well over 3 tons of trash from the Occoquan Watershed. Bud Craft used his pontoon boat to take volunteers to different locations in the river.  Claudia Cruise, Kathy and Chuck Burch were in charge of the volunteers cleaning up the Town of Occoquan. Bill Olson was in charge of Fountainhead cleaning operations. Maner and Stacey Lawton were in charge of cleaning up the Bull Run Marina; they used their two boats to ferry volunteers and pick up trash bags. Alex Vanegas and the Bull Run Rotary Club helped to clean the Bull Run Marina. Also present Chairman Sean Connaughton, who has supported FOTO since its inception, worked hands-on together with Marty Nohe, Prince William County Soil Conservation District director, Corey Stewart and David Brickley, former Director of the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation. As usually John Rothrock and John Chandler used their boats to transport trash to the collection points. Numerous tires, barrels, lawn chairs, sports equipment, and 150 trash bags were gathered up in an effort to maintain the beauty and integrity of the Occoquan River.

Cleanup pictures

OCCOQUAN CELEBRATION
30TH  ANNIVERSARY OF THE CLEAN WATER ACT
OCTOBER 19, 2002
TOWN OF OCCOQUAN, VIRGINIA

FOTO Presented Certificates of Appreciation to Stakeholders for their efforts to improve the environment.

  Hon. Tom Davis, US Congressman

Masters of Ceremony: Alex Vanegas and Bud Kraft

INTERNATIONAL/BILINGUAL SIGN PROJECT 

 An international/bilingual sign for the Four Mile Run of Arlington and Alexandria has been completed and will soon be installed. Katherine Mull and Bill Hicks, Northern Virginia Regional Commission; Aileen Winquist and Howard Hudgins, Arlington County; Judy Lo and Tom Wassaff, City of Alexandria; Laura Grape, Fairfax County; Elenor Hodges, Arlingtonians for a Clean Environment; and Germán Vanegas, FOTO, met several times and developed the sign shown below. All of the above mentioned deserve our thanks and appreciation, especially Aileen who was the coordinator and Laura and Judy who suggested new approaches to the design. Our next step will be the installation of 12 signs along the Four Mile Run. We will be notifying the public of this upcoming event through this website and other media outlets.

FOTO will continue with its efforts to keep our watersheds clean and encourage all Virginians to become stakeholders of our rivers and streams. We will engage the Spanish speaking community, especially those that do not speak English. FOTO is going to enlist the help of Hispanic organizations such as Soccer Leagues, Churches, TV and radio stations, and other local community organizations.

Aside from the sign installation at the Four Mile Run, FOTO has plans to install signs in Fairfax county, City of Alexandria, Northern Virginia Park Authority installations, Prince William county and Town of Occoquan.

WATER QUALITY MONITORING
FOTO has established three specific goals for this project.
1. To obtain useful biological, chemical and physical data to assess the quality of the Occoquan River.
2. To assess water quality changes that occur over a three-year period near transportation areas, bridges, that intersect the river and tributaries.
3. To train and educate citizens with the basic skills and knowledge to effectively monitor the Occoquan Watershed.

 Click here for Monitoring Results