In honor of Earth Week, a group of 12 interns from the Jamaica Bay Wetlands Fellowship, along with Fresh Creek Civic Association President Maria Garrett and two civic members, cleaned up some overgrown areas behind residents’ homes and along the waterfront on Flatlands 7th Street, off of East 108th Street, on Thursday, April 25th.
The team cut down a lot of invasive weeds, including mugwort, Japanese knotweed and phragmites, as well as overgrown vines crawling along some residents’ back fences. The group also cleaned up the area by the Avenue M Outfall.
NYC Parks routinely performs cleanups in the area, but “Parks never goes that far when they do cleanups,” Garrett told the Canarsie Courier.
In total, about 20 bags of debris were collected, loaded onto a truck and removed from the location.
Photos courtesy of Maria Garrett