Service on Theodore Roosevelt Island

by Daniel Parr, '07, '08

On a wooded haven surrounded by the Potomac River between Arlington, VA and Washington, DC, groups of young people joined SCA Founder Elizabeth C. Titus Putnam and National Park Service Deputy Director Lindi Harvey to battle trail erosion on Theodore Roosevelt Island, one of seven service projects at EarthVision.

David Vela, Superintendent of George Washington Memorial Parkway, welcomed the students in front of a 25-foot statue of Roosevelt upon their arrival to the island park. “Many Americans over the course of time have made their mark on this island,” Vela said. “It’s your park, it’s your resource, and it’s our duty to protect it.”

Park Ranger Dana Dierkes also addressed the young conservationists, and shared the rich history of the island with them. Dierkes took a moment to underline the importance of their work, and quoting the island’s namesake President, she called the crisis of natural resource conservation “the fundamental problem,” adding that “unless we solve that problem, it will avail us little to solve all others.”

Working in the springtime heat of D.C., students wasted no time in breaking out picks, shovels and loppers to tackle the work. Some volunteers replaced and renovated waterbars to control trail erosion, providing new aprons and outflows. Others brushed back corridor-encroaching brush to keep the trails safe and easily accessible.

Most of the students on the island were previously involved in SCA Corps programs. Conservation Leadership Corps (CLC) members from Seattle and Pittsburgh saw this as a unique opportunity to work together in a foreign city, doing work very similar to their own projects. Nick Williams, 17, from Pittsburgh, was very familiar with the importance of erosion control. “If the parks are easier and safer to use, it means there will be more people using them,” he says.

Some CLC members were just glad to get dirty again. “It’s great to get back to my SCA roots,” said Pittsburgh CLC alumnus Becca Droz, 17, who spent an unforgettable summer working at Kenai Fjords, Alaska in 2007.

By the project’s end, 45 young people had helped to make some remarkable renovations to the island’s trails, greatly contributing to the longevity of the island’s trails. Service projects like those at EarthVision, which focus on individual action, are integral to the health of those lands, as well as the greater conservation of all our parks. Roosevelt’s own words, etched in granite around his statue, say it best: “Be practical as well as generous in your ideals. Keep your eyes on the stars, but remember to keep your feet on the ground.”

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