Upcoming Events
2020 Meetings: Dec. 1, 7:30-9:15 p.m. via Zoom
WHAT: Presentation TBA. The link will be sent to everyone in the database and on the listserv with information about the speaker.
STREAM CLEANUPS
Saturday, Nov. 7, 10:00 - Noon
Alderton Road, NWB Trailhead
Leaders: Kristin Backert and Michael Evans
Group limit: 15
Site information:
Access Alderton Road from Bonifant Road to get to the site, since Alderton is disconnected. Click here for a map. (When the map displays, click Directions and a red pin will appear for the approximate spot.) The cleanup area is along the NWB Trail and the NWB near and under the spans of the ICC. Boots are useful for muddy areas. Wear long sleeves and pants and bring your water bottle and of course your mask. Bags and gloves will be provided by MoCo Parks.
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Saturday, Nov. 7, 10:00 - Noon
Lamberton Tributary of the NWB
Leader: Laura Turbe
Group limit: 10
Site info:
Meet along Lamberton Dr. near the intersection with Gilsan St. Click here for map. (When the map displays, click Directions to get the red pin.) The area to be addressed is a rather steep slope down to the stream--great for agile volunteers. Wear long pants and sleeves, and bring your water bottle and your mask. Bags and gloves will be provided by MoCo Parks.
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To participate in these cleanups, you must sign up with MoCo Parks and sign a waiver, which is good for future cleanups as well. Click the button below to sign up. SSL hours are available. If you're under 18 years old, print the waiver and bring it signed by a parent or guardian to the site leaders.
Meanwhile, you are always welcome to take a bag and gloves with you when you go for a walk in the park and be a much-appreciated one-person clean-up crew! Put the trash/recycling in the new cans that have sprouted up at trailheads, or take it home with you. And remember to keep that safe distance between you and the others out on the trails and wear your mask. For updates on Park COVID-19 policy, click the button below.
Recent: Water Quality Monitoring, Anacostia River System
Did you miss it? --you have another chance!
Olivia Anderson, Project Coordinator and Development Lead at the Anacostia Riverkeeper, gave an overview of the Anacostia Riverkeeper water quality monitoring program and results from May through August 2020 for e-coli bacteria, turbidity, dissolved oxygen, and some other measures. Monitoring sites include ones on the Northwest Branch and Sligo Creek. Robbie O'Donnell, Watershed Programs Manager, joined Olivia for an extensive Q & A. Four NNWB members have been part of this program.
You'll find a link to the recorded presentation and Q & A here. Use Passcode: 4WH$#UDM.
And if you'd like to zero in on a particular slide, you can download a pdf of the Power Point presentation from the button below. You can also view the most current e-coli results from our water quality monitoring below that. Anacostia Riverkeeper's current water quality monitoring schedule ended with this sampling.
Recent Event: Microplastic Pollution
At our Feb. 4 meeting, Dr. Kathleen Michels described the toxic effects of microplastic pollution on aquatic life and seabirds. Dr. Michels stressed that plastic pollution includes the broken bits and dissolved toxins from artificial turf. She displayed samples of the rug of plastic grass and the pulverized used tire crumbs that most often serve as infill for cushioning and to hold the blades up. Soccer fields contain roughly 675,000 square yards, or 40,000 pounds, of carpet with 400,000 pounds of infill. By the time the turf is too worn to use, a lot of the "grass" blades and much of the infill has already left the field and entered our waterways. But disposal of the rest is a serious problem, since it is not currently recyclable in the U.S. Other microplastics are the result of the breakdown of larger plastic objects such as our ubiquitous plastic bags.
Unfortunately, none of the bills that would have reduced plastic pollution managed to pass the shortened session of the Maryland Legislature, even the balloon release ban, which had seemed very promising. However, a similar balloon release ban is still awaiting action in the Montgomery County Council. Please let your state and county legislators know you support reducing killer plastic pollution, and we'll try again next year.
Find your legislators at MDelect.net. Use your right to be heard!
The absurdity of wasting scarce education money on these fields has been captured by the comic strip Big Nate. In case you missed it, here's the URL. https://www.gocomics.com/bignate/2020/05/08.
Rolls of syn turf taken from a Bethesda E.S. awaiting disposal...somewhere. Photo by Amanda Farber.
Recent Event: 10/1/19 Program: Mechanized Bikes/Scooters
Our October 1 program featured Mr. Charles Kines, AICP, CPRP, Park Planning Coordinator, who explained the Montgomery County pilot program allowing mechanized bikes and scooters on paved park trails. If you missed the program, you can find information about it on the MoCo Parks website at: Montgomery County's pilot program to allow mechanized bikes and scooters on paved park trails. You can also find the slides from Mr. Kines' presentation linked below. (Photo by Laura Turbe of a scooter abandoned beside Pine Lake in Wheaton Regional Park.)
Recent event: August 6 general meeting
The NNWB August meeting included reports on the beltway-I-270 expansion plan and a proposal to build a new middle school in the NWB floodplain in Hyattsville, both using Public-Private Partnerships (P3). We also discussed the Montgomery Parks pilot project to allow certain mechanized bikes and scooters on paved park trails and NNWB plans and speakers for the fall.
Recent Event: Impact of Plastics on the Northwest Branch
Wednesday, June 12, 7:30 - 8:45 p.m.: Impact of Plastics on the Northwest Branch
FEATURED SPEAKER Tiffany Boone-Hines, a Montgomery Blair High School student, spoke about her participation in One Montgomery Green's Clean Headwaters Program and what she has learned about the impact of plastics waste in marine environments through her hands-on study of the Northwest Branch and its tributaries.
Overall, plastic micro- and macro-pollution in waterways is a huge problem, and the Northwest Branch has its share of plastic waste. The team, using a sieve to isolate particles which they then viewed under a microscope, found tiny bits of plastic foam and synthetic fibers. Rather than rely on recycling plastics, we must reduce our use in the first place. It appears that our removal of all those plastic bottles and cups from the NWB has been beneficial, however, as the amount of particles in the water was not overwhelming. The slides from Tiffany's presentation can be viewed below.
One Montgomery Green is a local nonprofit fostering partnerships to support environmental sustainability and promote the development of a green economy.