By Patsy MorrowStaff WriterThe Eyes of Paint Branch, a grassroots environmental organization, adopted the Paint Branch watershed with a mission: to keep it free of trash.But, as the trash piled up, the organization appealed to the university’s social conscience to help achieve its goal. And so in fall 2006, a partnership was born between the university’s Life Sciences Scholars program and the community group.As part of Life Sciences’ annual service day just before classes began, the students lent a hand hauling trash out of the watershed – 2,000 to 3,000 pounds of trash.”We have been trying to build a long-term relationship [with the university] as a whole,” said David Dunmire, vice president and action chair of the group, which has been organizing stream cleanups, field trips and public education programs since 1994. The watershed covers about 13,287 acres of land that are predominantly for residential purposes. The massive amount of trash came from the Takoma Park branch alone. While Paint Branch is one of the least-developed Anacostia watersheds, the organization still fights against development in the area, especially the proposed Inter-County Connector, according to the Eyes of Paint Branch website.Each year, Eyes of the Paint Branch, in partnership with the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, takes a trash survey to gauge which types of waste get into the stream. The study normally lists plastic bottles, bags and cans. But this year, students found something unexpected.The Life Sciences Scholars students stationed at the Takoma Park branch unearthed an entire motorbike, said John Galli, principal environmental engineer for the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments. Students also found a skateboard and countless car parts along with the anticipated bottles and cans. The study classifies each branch of the Anacostia system as having high, low or moderate levels of pollution. Paint Branch, in comparison to other parts of the system, is in relatively good condition. However, the trash surveys have only been in effect for the last two years, making it hard to draw concrete conclusions. But Galli thinks there may be some progress.”There was less trash this year than last year,” Galli said. “Whether it’s a function of improvement due to student activity or the drought conditions, we don’t know. My instinct is it’s more related to the environment, but [the volunteers] have made a huge difference.”morrowdbk@gmail.com