On Tuesday, National Park Service crews began cleaning up hundreds of tires found dumped under a D.C. Route 295 overpass in D.C.’s Anacostia Park. “It’s going to be a fairly large undertaking,” said Sgt. Thomas Twiname, a spokesman for the United States Park Police. “There’s a lot of equipment out here. It’s probably going to take several days to get all these tires cleared out of here.” The large pile of tires was first spotted near the CSX railroad tracks in December. Several NPS employees were picking the tires up Tuesday morning and loading them into construction vehicles.

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“The National Park Service is also doing everything we can to ensure that our lands stay pristine, and that’s why we’re out here today removing this,” said Sean McGinty, National Capital Parks-East spokesman. Park Police is seeking the person, or people, responsible for dumping the tires. It is unclear how long the tires have been at the site and whether they were all dumped at once.

The National Park Service is beginning to clean up the massive pile of tires that was found in Anacostia Park a few weeks ago (under a section of 295 near East Capitol Street and the CSX railroad tracks) @WTOP pic.twitter.com/c5My8LiT4A

— Stetson Miller (@stetsonmreports) January 17, 2023

“These public lands throughout the District of Columbia, as well as Maryland and Virginia, they serve an important role,” Twiname said. “They’re community parks for these areas, and this isn’t how these sites should be treated.” Commercial dumping is a felony in the District, punishable with up to five years in prison. Anyone with information about the dumping incident is asked to call 202-379-4877.