West*Group, a real estate development company headquartered in McLean, partnered with Fairfax Trails and Streams to participate in the Alice Ferguson Foundation’s 19th Annual Potomac Watershed Clean-Up. This was the second year that West*Group and Fairfax Trails and Streams have come together for this event.
On Wednesday, April 11, a team of 30 West*Group volunteers cleaned up the section of Scott’s Run Stream in the area between 495 and the I-66 Connector (Dulles Access Road). Ed Pickens, president of Fairfax Trails and Streams, helped coordinate the clean-up with West*Group and was instrumental in the clean-up efforts.
“After this year’s cleanup effort in the Tysons Corner area of Scott’s Run, we will see significant progress in all the downstream portions of Scott’s Run,” said Ed Pickens, president of Fairfax Trails and Streams. “Fairfax Trails and Streams commends West*Group for taking such an active interest in our local environment. We look forward to partnering again with West*Group next year for the initial stream clean-up of the areas northwest of the Beltway in the Tysons Corner complex.”
Gerald T. Halpin, West*Group’s president, encouraged employees to volunteer for the clean-up during work hours without having to use paid leave time. The company provided volunteers with lunch after the work was done.
“We are always excited when we are able to take time out of our busy schedules and give back to the community in which we all live, work and play,” said Keith Turner, senior vice president of Development Services at West*Group. “We’ve been here for 45-plus years, and some of our buildings back up against Scott’s Run Stream. We feel a responsibility to help to keep our community clean.”
This year West*Group’s team pulled out an air conditioning unit, several small refrigerators, a mattress, a sleeping bag, a 50-foot metal hand-rail, a ski pole, a rake, an engine block, a Christmas tree complete with light strands, five tires and about 65 bags of loose trash.
Both Pickens and Turner agree that with the Metro coming soon, there will be a great opportunity to enhance Scott’s Run to create an urban linear park complete with pedestrian and bicycle trails that will orient Tysons residents and employees directly to the proposed Tysons East Station. Turner said that, not only can Scott’s Run be a critical component of the open space network that will help address congestion, but it can ultimately become a significant park in Tysons — one that all of the residents and employees can enjoy.