Big community event to clean up our creeks & rivers! We need captains with skiffs, trash pickers (for on the skiffs and independently by land, kayak or canoe), and land-based volunteers to help with organization, lunch, and sorting trash. Participants get free lunch & t-shirt! Join us for a 9/11 Day of Service – but on 10/4/2026!
NAPS holds an Annual Creek Cleanup enlisting volunteer watermen, students and other citizens to clear trash and debris from one of the county's waterways. Northumberland County contains several major Chesapeake Bay estuaries and NAPS rotates through them year after year (this year's location TBA). Each year, 60-75 volunteers assemble for a group lunch at the land base at noon and are given a complimentary NAPS "trash crab" T-shirt. After a safety briefing (Smith Point Sea Rescue is on hand with a safety boat and instruction), trash picker volunteers are assigned to skiffs/captains before shoving off to cover assigned areas of the waterway. A team of kayakers also paddle off to clean the closer shorelines. Land-based volunteers assemble a trash/recycling sorting station and clean up the lunch area while awaiting the return of the skiffs with their "catch." As skiffs return, volunteers unload and document the trash and debris, sort out recyclable and reusable materials, and place the trash in the dumpster. Skiffs/crews and paddlers are instructed to return to the land base for the last time no later than 3pm.
Registration required – please email stewardship@napsva.org and you will be contacted with complete instructions and directions. Please contact stewardship@napsva.org if you have any questions or ideas!
