NORFOLK, Va. -Around 50 volunteers from the law firm of Pender & Coward, the Elizabeth River project, the City of Norfolk and Boy Scouts planted grass along the banks of the Elizabeth River to help restore the shoreline.
“We didn’t want to just walk away from this issue after the vessels left,” said environmental attorney, Jim Lang, who organized the effort. “So we decided to clean up the trash and joining with the Elizabeth River Project to actually restore the shore.”
The shoreline was damaged by 30 old vessels, which have since been removed. The area was formerly known as a “floating junkyard.”
The planting will benefit part of the shore that was mostly undamaged by the ships. Lang says the rest of the shore can be planted after additional modifications that will create a proper planting zone for the native wetlands grasses.
The volunteers also picked up a ton or more of trash.
