An annual event promoting the preservation of a wooded area in Tysons return this weekend.
Led by Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn, the third annual Tysons Forest Cleanup will be held on Sunday (April 12) to “maintain the health” of the 65-acre “hidden green oasis,” county officials announced.
Starting at 1 p.m., volunteers will meet at the Vesper Trail bridge behind 1593 Spring Hill Road to collect litter and debris. All supplies will be provided, with pre-registration for participants highly encouraged.
The effort is a labor of love for Alcorn, who convened a task force in 2023 to identify solutions to “preserve and enhance this emerald gem,” which is plagued by certain issues due to its location in an urban area.
The forest, which spans from the Dulles Toll Road to Gosnell Road, includes the 33-acre Old Courthouse Spring Branch Stream Valley, the Ash Grove Historic Site and Raglan Road and Freedom Hill parks.
Thousands of bottles are retrieved from streams in the forest annually, with continued encroachment on the area causing growing concerns about the need to preserve a rare natural area in Tysons, according to the task force’s report.
“Because the land along the stream valley is owned by multiple public and private owners, the task force brought these groups together to form a common vision and action plan for keeping this stretch green and healthy,” Alcorn said in a statement.
Other recommendations made by the task force included obtaining commitments from nearby businesses to secure dumpster lids, thereby preventing wind and weather from carrying litter into the forest, and installing trash cans along the forest’s hiking trails.
The task force also highlighted the need to replenish the forest’s tree canopy, expand the forest’s footprint and “deliver a promise of coexistence.”
“A thriving green forest with a healthy biodiversity shall be valued equally with the building of a city,” the report reads.
