The winter road salt testing seasoned ended April 23 with one final testing for chloride in the local creeks. Results from the season (seen in Figure 1) indicate that the creeks in the Little Falls watershed are experiencing high levels of salt despite the lack of winter storms.
Our stream monitoring team was thrilled to find a two-lined salamander at their spring monitoring session, April 21! This little salamander lays her eggs in the creek on the rocks and pebbles. While they are native to the area, we don’t see many in the creek because their habitat is frequently buried in the silt caused by eroding banks.
It’s spring in the Green Acres Restoration Project and we are happy to report that the Virginia Bluebells (Mertensia virginica) we planted last fall are up and starting to bloom and more were planted just last week. Virginia bluebells are native to the eastern part of North America and occur in riparian forests, which are wooded areas growing on river and lake banks or in wetland areas. The blue flowers in the spring make a stunning display and when they spread, carpet the area in blue.
Jane Padelford Gomes was recognized for her tremendous contribution to the watershed, the Green Acres Habitat Restoration. This project, started by Jane in 2016, has transformed the muddy, invasive overgrown “paper road” between Wakefield and Yorktown Roads in Bethesda into a haven of native plants alive with song birds, butterflies, bees and other native insects.
Cardinal flowers, bee balm and mountain mint are just some of the flowers blooming in the Green Acres meadow. Volunteers have been hard at work weeding, mulching and planting.
Trees are mulched! After experimenting with several different methods, we decided to add mulch rings to the base of our new trees to protect them from lawn mowers which have been banging up the trunks.