Please join our friends at the Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN) for invasive removals along the NW Branch. Info and sign up links here.
Saturday, October 18th, Heurich Park, Hyattsville & surrounding neighborhoods (with City of Hyattsville)
Friday Oct 31, 38th Ave Park, Hyattsville (with Friends of Sligo Creek)
Please wear long pants, long sleeves, and close-toed shoes. Instructions and tools will be provided, so just bring yourself, a good attitude and any water/snacks you’d like. both sites have restrooms accessible via mobile phone. Need inspiration? See a time lapse video of our invasive removal with FOSC on 10/5.
November 1, 10 AM - 1 PM
NW Branch at Oakview Drive
NNWB is partnering with Montgomery Parks to clean up the storm water channels that lead from the Beltway to the NWB. We will meet at the end of Oakview Drive and walk to the two channels. All materials and gloves provided. Wear long pants and sturdy shoes and bring water. Advance registration required - info and sign up here.
Check for more events soon! Reach out if you’d like to lead a cleanup - we can help!
Our band of 13 hikers and a cat got a lucky break on the weather and accomplished the last leg of our 16-mile Northwest Branch Trail exploration from 38th Ave. Park in Hyattsville to Bladensburg Waterfront Park, passing the confluence of the Northwest and Northeast branches of the Anacostia River. This photos shows the confluence in the background. The birder among us counted at least 42 different species heard and/or seen, among them red-tailed hawks in a nest and Baltimore Orioles.
Here's the group on the dock at Bladensburg. We noted Bladensburg's role in the War of 1812: the British routed the American defenders outside Bladensburg in 1814 and proceeded to burn Washington's new public buildings. But all was quiet on the waterfront for our visit. No more hikes are currently scheduled; however, in the fall, when the water cools, who knows? If you are interested, watch this space.
Our Earth Day hike on April 20 on the NWB Trail started at Heurich Park, where our previous segment ended. Flanked by clusters of invasive Japanese knotweed and nonnative invasive garlic mustard, our band of 10 walked the well-marked paved trail to the 38th Ave. Park, our turn-around point, 4.3 miles RT.
Photo: Bridge where NWB meets Sligo Creek Trail
Highpoints of the hike were sightings of a possible muskrat or beaver in a large stormwater pond, a possible green heron or cormorant, two mallard ducks, and lots of volunteers cleaning up trash for the Anacostia Watershed Society Earth Day cleanup. On our way back, fortified with coffee from the volunteers at 38th Ave Park, we filled several bags with trash and recyclable water bottles found along the trail.
Next time we will pass the confluence with the Northeast Branch and reach Bladensburg Waterfront Park!
Photo: Heurich Park area
A small but sturdy band set out from Adelphi Mill on March 16 headed downstream 2.4 miles on a paved trail. We completed another segment of our trek from the top end of the Northwest Branch trail to the confluence of the Northwest and Northeast branches of the Anacostia River. We turned around at Heurich Park, which will be the starting point next time, loading up with trash on the way back. This included many bottles and cans that could have been recycled and would never have been dumped if Maryland had a beverage container returnable deposit.
Continuing our exploration of the NWB trail, 16 hikers hiked from Adelphi Mill upstream to where the last hike ended, at the steep access road leading to Oakview Drive. This is all paved, but has two somewhat slippery water crossings to generate a bit of risk.
Our group of 19 hiked downstream from Burnt Mills East, some on the high non-rocky trail, some over the boulders alongside the NWB as it cascades from the Piedmont to the Coastal Plain. From the end of the Fall Line Trail (photo location), we hiked to the gravel access road that leads down from Oakview Dr. Some took the opportunity of this steep road for a little extra cardio. The next segment of our exploration will begin at that access point & go downstream on paved trail. Photo Ted Porter.
Continuing our exploration of the entire NWB Trail and stream valley, we started at the Lamberton Tributary where we turned back on Feb. 19 and hiked to Burnt Mills and back. From left, Peter, Bob, Jennifer, Yuri, and George. Photo by A. Ambler 3/11/23
Our merry band of 9, including one who rode the whole way, set out from beside the old Bonifant Family Cemetery on Pebblestone Drive, down through the meadow to the NWB trail.
As we crossed the NWB on a remnant of the old Bonifant Rd., all eyes were on the tree canopy. Pileated woodpecker?
Claudia uses the occasion to cleanup some of the many discarded bottles.
The Story of Streams was officially launched at the 1796 Adelphi Mill, coincidentally the birthplace of NNWB 2 decades ago.
Eliza Cava, Conservation Director of Nature Forward (formerly Audubon Naturalist Society) reported results from the grant-funded study she led to rate three tributary streams: the Northwest Branch, Oxon Run (in Prince George's County) and Holmes Run (in VA). She described the methodology and the ratings: the NWB rated just FAIR. All this and much much more has been put into an interactive website, the Story of Streams. And for those who enjoy the NWB, I enthusiastically draw your attention to the section on the NWB within the chapter on STREAMS. Scroll down to the NWB and then to the embedded story map by Krista Schlyer. Ms. Schlyer takes the NWB from source to confluence with pictures and history, including the Underground Railroad and Rachel Carson.
The website is a vast world of information, wherever you look--historical, geographic, and current. The statements of those who now enjoy these streams, despite their flaws, prove how important they are to the well-being of our communities. We so need them to be healthier! And the next chapter of the story of our streams remains to be written. YOU can help to make it better than the recent past chapters. Link to the overall Story of Streams website.
Dr. Saravanapavan identified where the blockages are that will be removed. Green dot indicates current limit of fish migration; line indicates historic limit. (Screen shot)
Thambirajah Saravanapavan, Ph.D., P.E., Army Corps of Engineers, Project Manager, spoke to a group of nearly 30 interested NWB watershed residents. (Dr. Saravanapavan helpfully encouraged us to address him as Tham.) In response to his question, "What did we do to get here?" he said that suburban sprawl with its impervious surfaces brought us to this point, although he also mentioned the earlier goals of the Corps to control flooding, which resulted in straightening the NWB and confining it (my term) between high berms.
His second question, " How do we attempt to reverse our blunders?" is what the Corps is planning. The projects are not yet designed, and there is room for public input. His third question, how to sustain what we have managed to restore, again involves the public engagement.
Some notes of interest from the discussion:
- minute 49 etc, he mentions a public forum at which people could comment on the design. A participant urges reconnecting the NWB to the floodplain.
- min.51, he mentions relocation of some segments of the NWB.
- min. 53:45, he restates that the Army's Corps' objective is to bring back the "natural stream functions," i.e., "reverse engineering," but attention to water quality is handled elsewhere. Discussion of importance of water quality to successful fish populations.
You might also want to check the Army Corps' website for the projects. Note particularly the appendices at the right of the page, including Public Involvement.
The video recording of the presentation and Q&A is now posted, with thanks to Ed Murtagh for the conversion. Although 29 people were in attendance, including the presenter, for some reason Zoom did not capture them in the video.