Recent Presentations
4/5: New President and CEO of AWS, Chris Williams
3/1: Rachel Carson: A local visionary with lessons for today
3/1: Rachel Carson: A local visionary with lessons for today
Chris shared with us the origins of the Anacostia Watershed Society, with emphasis on "watershed." The AWS focus has been on the river itself because of its dire state. But now that the goal of fishable and swimmable by 2025 is within reach, AWS is creating a plan that includes more of the upper watershed and source waters. He asked for our suggestions, since we are protectors of the major source. The discussion included the AWS position on the beltway-I-270 expansion for toll lanes, synthetic turf as a water pollutant, and the value and risks of stream restorations.
3/1: Rachel Carson: A local visionary with lessons for today
3/1: Rachel Carson: A local visionary with lessons for today
3/1: Rachel Carson: A local visionary with lessons for today
Board member Rebecca Henson, who is leading the effort to create a local museum featuring Rachel Carson, discussed her life and legacy at the March 1 Membership Meeting. Ms. Carson lived in both the NWB and Sligo Creek watersheds during her nearly three decades of residence in Montgomery County. Rebecca explored how Carson understood and wrote about the natural world, primarily with messages of wonder and caution. Your can find more information about Rachel Carson on the Friends of Sligo Creek website at https://www.friendsofsligocreek.org/home/how-we-work/sligo-story-archive/rachel-carson-lived-here/
Presentation: Finding Nature's Secret Garden, 3/30/21
Maryland Master Naturalist Paula Wang
gave us a virtual preview of the short-lived woodland treasures along the Northwest Branch and other local trails. She included key identification features, medicinal uses, and folklore associated with these spring ephemeral visual treats. She shared just where to find whole arrays of flowers--and also warned of the inroads being made by non-native invasives such as Lesser Celandine. The trail guide she mentioned in her talk and the slides she used can be downloaded below. If you want to review the entire presentation, check out the YouTube (below, or click on Spring Beauties). Toward the end of the presentation, you'll hear a variety of frog calls, identified. Enjoy! And then get out on the trails very soon, before many of these flowers are gone.
Presentation - Feb 2, 2021
Role of Montgomery Parks in Monitoring and Protecting the NWB
The program covered biological monitoring background and long-term monitoring results; stream restoration project updates, especially focused on the Glenallan Tributary to the NWB; other stormwater mitigation & water quality enhancement efforts; and volunteer services updates. Our presenters were Rachel Gauza, Biological Monitoring Program Coordinator; Erin McArdle, P.E., Environmental Engineer; Jackie Hoban, Senior Natural Resources Specialist; and Valeria Espinoza, Stream & Parks Cleanup Coordinator. Doug Stephens, Principal Natural Resources Specialist, kept an eye on the chat questions and provided answers. A YouTube video of the presentation is linked here.