Quang Troung casually casts his fishing line into the Potomac River from a fishing pier under the Woodrow Wilson Bridge at the historic 65-acre Jones Point Park south of Old Town Alexandria, occasionally glancing at a team of union volunteers completing much-needed repairs on an adjacent fishing pier.

“I’ve fished here under the bridge all my life,” Troung, a 32-year-old native Virginian said. “It’s a great place to fish, it’s about time they upgraded that pier. It’s tons of fish out here, great people, great atmosphere and beautiful scenery. I guess I’ll be the first one to cast off the pier. I can’t wait. The pier is a lot nicer, sturdier and the railing is safer for the kids. I like it a lot,” said Troung, who first to cast his line from the new pier.

Troung is among one of thousands of community members and visitors who will benefit from and utilize the park to fish the historic Potomac River.

According to Mary Lou Livingood, Union Sportsman Alliance (USA) consultant, the pier was totally replaced by union volunteers from USA as part of their 100th conservation project, entitled “Work Boots on the Ground.” The volunteers from various trades donated approximately 864 hours of their time and skills to reconstruct the dilapidated fishing pier to support the National Park Service.

“There’s a 12 billion dollar backlog within the National Park Service on infrastructure projects,” Livingood said. “So this team is comprised of local union members from the Union Sportsman Alliance supporting this project.”

The pier restoration was made possible with $22,500 grant provided by the America Water Charitable Foundation (AWFC), along with the skilled labor support of union volunteers from Elevator Constructors Local 10, Electrical Workers Local 26, Iron Workers Local 5, Bricklayers Local 1 and Roofers Local 30, along with volunteers from Virginia American Water, ULLICO, Calibre and the Student Conservation Association.

The combined union crewmembers gutted rotted timber from the pier, originally built in 1950, meeting the time-line challenge of replacing the entire bridge in only six weekends.

Smilingly proudly, each volunteer autographed a piece of the last railing. International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBW) local 26 electrician Thomas Barber noted, “The old pier was pretty raggedy. I think this project was a great thing for the community. Hopefully some children will come out here and learn how to fish, instead of being out there getting in trouble. That’s why we’re doing this.”

George Hogan, IBW local 26, business manager, said, “ All of these trades are located here in Washington, DC. Historically, this pier is located at the site of a former ship building area. The pier was in really bad shape and USA decided to come in and give of our time and labor. The pier is brand new now and we replaced the entire structure, starting the last week of September and finishing today, Oct. 21.

“We had many crews participate; we had International Brick Layers, stone masonry trades, electrical workers, elevator constructors, steel workers. It’s been a combined trade effort to replace this well-used pier and give it back to community. The union members ensured the project was ADA compliant for disabled fishers, by lowering the rails so they could fish from their wheel chairs,” Hogan added. “We’re here to give back to the community and I can guaranteed you could probably drive a tank on it with no problem.”

“Getting this new pier is really exciting because this is a partnership project,” National Park Service George Washington Memorial Parkway Chief of Staff Aaron LaRocca said. “The Park Service provides all the time and commitment to providing all the upfront work needed to do a project like this. That means the plans, the required permitting for this type of project and our expertise. The unions brought in another type of expertise. They were able to work with other union members which volunteered skilled labor, with no charge to the Park Service. They in turn were able to connect with union members to connect resources for the project. So it was beneficial where each partner was giving something of themselves to benefit the public,” LaRocca added.

“We rely heavily on partnership help to provide experiences we cannot provide with out the help of partners. The experience is actually once the fishing pier is complete, and the access it provides for visitors.

According to LaRocca, “one of the fun and interesting things about the new pier is that it is now built over a historic finishing pier that was there when Jones Point was an active shipyard in the 1800s. The 87-foot long by 20-foot-plus foot wide fishing pier now sits on the historical concrete footing.”

“It’s great to be able to provide an ADA compliant fishing pier so that everybody can get out there and have access to the river and enjoy the recreation opportunities here,” said LaRocca, adding the other nearby fishing pier is in good shape. It was replaced as part the Jones Point Park rehabilitation in 2010 when the Woodrow Wilson was rebuilt.

LaRocca noted that he had spent a significant time visiting the Jones Point Park looking at the progress of the project, but specifically looking the surrounding outdoor activities taking place.

“I was really inspired by all the recreational activities going on down there. People were taking roller blade exercise classes, boot camp recreational classes, fishing on the other pier, bike riders along the bike course and they were walking their dogs. I thought what a cool activity to add to the list of things to do down there. You could definitely make a full day of recreation at Jones Point Park,” LaRocca said.

According to USA, the Jones Point Park project marks the seventh joint conservation project between the USA and AWCF since 2015. In total, the USA has received $175,500 in AWCF grants for projects that improve public access to water-based recreational opportunities or enhance the environmental sustainability of existing recreational areas in Tennessee, Illinois, West Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

The USA and AWCF, union leaders and volunteers will rededicate the restored fishing pier at Jones Point Park in Alexandria, on Friday, Nov. 3 with a ribbon cutting ceremony and USA will host a youth conservation activities and fishing event for 75 fourth graders from Lyles Crouch from 9 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. A ribbon cutting ceremony will immediately follow.

Among the guests in attendance will be members of Congress along with other local elected officials.

The Union Sportsmen’s Alliance (USA) is a union-operated, union-dedicated, conservation organization. It is committed to uniting the more than six million active and retired AFL-CIO trade union members who hunt, fish, shoot and recreate outdoors into one community with a shared commitment to educate future generations of sportsmen and sportswomen, conserve healthy wildlife habitat and volunteer their time and skills for projects that improve outdoor access for all.

The American Water Charitable Foundation: Established in 2010 with a founding contribution from American Water, the American Water Charitable Foundation is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization that provides a formal way to demonstrate the company’s ongoing commitment to being a good neighbor, citizen and contributor to the communities where American Water and its employees live, work and operate. The Foundation helps support American Water employee-identified nonprofit endeavors.