Sorry, we have no pictures (need to remember to find volunteer photographer), but we had a quality turn out on Saturday for the Annual Creek Sweep. Over 50 bags of trash and recyclables were pulled from the creek as well as a ladder, a shovel, plastic flower pots, various clothing, four cell phones and more! Visit the Alice Ferguson website to get a report on how the other sites did.
Thank you especially to Jackie's Girl Scout troop, the Cub Scout Bears from Wood Acres ES and the group from Stone Ridge. These kids were enthusiastic cleaners!
We won't have another big clean-up until next year, but if you are interested in cleaning the creek, send us an email at stormwater@LFWA.org and we can direct you to the worst spots and arrange for bags, gloves and pick-up. We also have a once a month creek clean-up between Mass Ave and River Road on Little Falls Parkway. Visit our website at www.LFWA.org/events for details.
And if you are reading this and have any pictures that we could post, please let me know! A picture tells a thousand words.
Thanks for thinking about the environment,
Sarah Morse
Bullis LAX Defeats Trash: 27 - 0
25 members of the Bullis Lacrosse team tackled the Little Falls Stream Valley park behind the Sumner Shopping Plaza and came out with 27 bags of trash and recycling! The trash put up a good fight, but the Bullis boys proved tougher. In a rigorous match in which the boys had to scale the steep slopes of the creek valley, wrestle tires and fencing from the stream and fight vines and branches, the team emerged 90 muddy minutes later with 27 bags of discarded plastic bags, cups, carry-out containers, cans and bottles. 8 bags were dedicated just to recyclables! For bonus points, they also retrieved two tires, one piece of fencing, one wooden table, one wooden palette and miscellaneous scrap metal.
The trash pick-up was Coach Bobby Pollicino's annual team service project. Good job boys and thank you to Coach Pollicino for thinking of the environment.
LFWA is Available to Lead Group Service Projects
If you would like to organize a service project for your team, office group, civic associate, let us know. We can do trash pick-ups or invasive weed removals. We also have storm drains that need labeling. We supply all the materials; you just need to bring the people.
Together we can make a difference.
Sarah Morse
MD Bag Bill Needs Your Help Today
Last Saturday, 16 volunteers cleaned up Little Falls Parkway. Along with 6 bags of plastic bottles, they picked up hundreds of bags blow out of garbage trucks or just thrown out of car windows. The problem is not as great in DC as they have a bag tax. When you buy something a District grocery store or any store, they are required to ask if you want a bag. If you do, it cost 5 cents. Just this little tax has reduced the number of bags found in the Anacostia by 40 percent.
In Maryland, we have a Bag fee bill in Annapolis now. If you are a MD resident, please contact your representative TODAY (click on representative) and ask them to support the Clean the Streams and Beautify the Bay Act of 2011. This important bill will reduce the number of bags we find in our cleanups AND the money collected will go to Chesapeake Bay Trust to support environmental education and restoration.
If the link above doesn't work, go to http://action.surfrider.org/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=2257
There is a form ready for you to send.
Sarah Morse
Co-President, Little Falls Watershed Alliance
Volunteers Remove 10 Bags of Trash From Little Falls Parkway
We had a beautiful day Saturday while we were out cleaning up the Little Falls Stream Valley Park. Sixteen volunteer
s collected enough to fill ten extra large bags with recyclable and regular trash. Several large metal items, including a large highway guardrail, were also found and dragged out.
LFWA wants to especially thank the sixth graders, from Westland Middle School and North Chevy Chase, and their moms, who worked so diligently to bring the Parkway and park back to a cleaner state. Their enthusiasm and efforts are very much appreciated. And we can't forget our regular volunteers, Patty and Pat Garvey.
When you all walk in the park or drive along Little Falls Parkway, please take a minute (or second when driving) to notice how much cleaner the area is.
Thank to everyone,
Suzanne Richman
LFWA Heroes
I was watching one of those action movies the other night and thinking about what it takes to be a hero. Since I don't quite have the body type for jumping fences and scaling buildings and I'm never going to rescue people from the deep jungle, what could I do? The answer came from my kids - "keep doing what you're doing. You are a hero." A tree saved, a creek cleaned - this is also the work of heroes.
At LFWA, we see heroes every day. Saturday, we had a crew out on Little Falls Parkway, cleaning the creek and the roadway between River Road and Mass ave. Thank you Dan Dozier and volunteers for coming out. Little by little, we are keeping trash out of the creek, the Potomac and the Bay.
And we also had a group at Norwood Park saving trees from strangling honey suckle and porcelain berry vines. They also removed a lot of bush honey suckle and multi-flora rose. The trees are happy. Thank you so much to Doug Jimenez and the Interested Gentlemen of Lamda Theta Phi, Latin Fraternity Inc at the University of Maryland for setting this up. Doug and his fraternity brothers brought a group of high school students connected with I.D.E.N.T.I.T.Y. They worked hard and got a lot done. Check out our pictures on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/lfwa/sets/. Select the 2011 Vine Removal in Norwood Park set.
Thank you to all our volunteer heroes. Together we are making a difference, one tree, one creek at a time.
Save the Date for Community Clean Water Summit
Join us for the Community Clean Water Summit
February 26, 8:00 am to 1:30 pm
Silver Spring Civic Building, Great Hall, room 1
Pre-register at http://clean-water-summit.eventbrite.com
What is this event? A Community Clean Water Summit for citizens to attend and learn about the impacts streams are facing; what environmental groups are doing to prevent these impacts and how they can get involved in the Clean Streams Movement.
Who should attend? All members of watershed groups, general public and anyone interested in the health of the streams in Montgomery County.
What Will You Learn? By joining us at the Community Clean Water Summit, citizens can:
See firsthand what issues streams in the County face and how they can be a part of the solution. Eric Eckl, from Water Words that Work, LLC, will be the keynote speaker and will provide input on how Montgomery County residents can have a “Vision for a Cleaner, Healthier Community.”
Hear stories from local residents who decided they had the power to improve the water quality in their neighborhood.
Meet and get to know these fellow citizens who have formed together to improve their community and local streams.
Find out how you can make a difference - discuss various volunteer efforts, inquire about memberships, and other ways individuals can help to make a difference.
Learn from local vendors how to make your your home more water conservation-friendly.
Why: Streams in Montgomery County are impacted by a host of factors. Pollution comes from various sources, however, pollution from stormwater is the only source of pollution that is increasing in the streams of Montgomery County and the Chesapeake Bay. This pollution can come from each and every one of us through the actions and decisions we make on a daily basis. The solution to this trend is in the hands of the local citizens. By getting involved in the community and being aware of the environmental programs, projects, and groups available in the County, citizens can make a significant difference in the amount of pollution that reaches streams by changing simple habits and behaviors. Many of these actions are commonplace and often residents are unaware that their actions can have a negative effect on stream health.
There is a federal program that sets limits for the amount of stormwater pollution in certain areas. Montgomery county is one of the areas that must participate in this program. In order for the County to meet the requirements of this program and reduce the impacts of pollution to their streams, the County needs all citizens to make conscience choices about how their daily activities affect the streams where they live, work, and play.
To register for the event please visit: http://clean-water-summit.eventbrite.com
This event is made possible with the generous support of the Chesapeake Bay Trust, Montgomery County and Sea Grant of Maryland.
We look forward to seeing you there!
For more information, please contact:
Ryan Zerbe
Watershed Outreach Planner
Montgomery County DEP
255 Rockville Pike, Ste. 120
Rockville, MD 20850
ph: 240-777-7744
fax:240-777-7765
email:Ryan.Zerbe@montgomerycountymd.gov
Parkway Cleaned!
Volunteers Matt Oxley and family were so disappointed that the Parkway Pick-up Saturday was canceled due to the snow that they took some bags and gloves and did a parkway clean-up this morning. They collected 3 big bags of trash and one piece of fencing.
Thank you to the Oxleys for coming out. All in all we have collected over 30 huge bags of trash during the months that we have adopted the Little Falls Parkway. Little steps like this keep the trash out of the creek and out of the Bay.
Equipment, Not Trees, Causes PEPCO Outages
The County is currently looking at Pepco service problems. Please take a moment to remind the working group that street trees are not to blame for power outages. According to a Washington Post investigation, Pepco’s own equipment is to blame. The DC area tree canopy is average, but our outages are not. Click here to read the Post story. Also read Robert McCartney’s excellent column on the same subject.
Street trees have a hard enough life surviving in our urban environment all the while providing such incredible services to us- including soaking up polluted rain water run-off; it is tragic that Pepco blames them for power outages, butchering their branches. Please remember when discussing Pepco and their terrible record with power outages- IT'S NOT THE TREES!
Push back against Pepco's tree butchering and advocate for more street trees and all the benefits they provide! Write to County Executive Leggett's working group on Pepco Service telling them NOT TO ALLOW PEPCO TO BLAME THE TREES! (email, ConsumerProtection@montgomerycountymd.gov with "PEPCO COMMENT" in the subject line)
Trees make a difference in our densely urban environment and we can make a difference by saving them from Pepco’s chainsaws.
Watershed Stewards Academy Accepting Applications
If you are passionate about the environment and want to help save the Little Falls creek and surrounding space from pollution, Please consider attending the brand new Watershed Stewards Academy and becoming a Master Watershed Steward.
It's a new program out of the University of Maryland sponsored in part by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. There are twelve classes beginning in March and spanning 3 months. Through the course, community leaders will be empowered to guide their neighbors to change the way they handle stormwater.
Participants will graduate from the Academy as Master Watershed Stewards by completing the course and taking on a Capstone Project that will reduce pollution and runoff at its source, neighborhood by neighborhood. Applicants will be drawn from the District, Prince George’s and Montgomery Counties. The Academy is being run by a coalition of local and regional watershed nonprofit organizations.
Please visit www.ncr-wsa.org to apply before January 10, 2011.
*Please view the class schedule to be sure you can attend all of the classes
*Course will be held at the University of Maryland Campus in College Park Maryland
For additional questions about the Academy and to apply please visit www.ncr-wsa.org.
Report Suzanne Richman, Parkway Pick-up, December 11:
Oh, what a beautiful day to be outside! I led the Little Falls Parkway Pick-Up today and it turned out to be a perfect day to be out of the house. The group spent a little over an hour picking up papers, bottles and other trash along the parkway. Four large bags were filled.
All are invited to join us on the second Saturday of each month. We will have a magnet with our logo attached to a car in the parking area at LF Pkwy and Mass to identify us.
We are especially in need of physically fit, perhaps young, people who don't mind wading across the creek (branch) and walking through brambles to get at wayward plastic bags and stuff.