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.

Parkway Clean-up Report

Here is a report from Donal about the Parkway Pick-up Saturday:

After 2 hours, I left two bags and a large cone (of the type used by AT&T to mark their trucks stopped on the street) at the northwest corner of Massachusetts Avenue and Little Falls Parkway right next to the intersection traffic signals. It includes miscellaneous trash, lots of plastic bottles!

I also went to the west side of the waterway and quickly filled a complete bag at one place that was easier to get to and clamber down from the bank. But there is still lots more on that side that might be more easily accessed by crossing the stream in wading boots at low water.

Thank you to everyone who came out to help. If you missed this month, our next pick-up is scheduled for December 11, 10:00. Meet at the gravel parking lot at the corner of Mass Ave and Little Falls Parkway. We have safety vests, gloves and bags.

Norwood Park Cleaned

About 50 volunteers came out on 10/16/2010, a beautiful fall day, to improve the wooded areas in Norwood Park by picking up trash and removing invasive vines and other weeds. We saved many trees from dying of strangulation and from the weight of these vines, which were mostly porcelain berry,on Asian vine.

Thank you to our partners Friends of Norwood Park, Chevy Chase West and Montgomery Parks for all their help. Thank you to Honest Tea for supplying beverages. Thank you to Jim Auerbach for the lovely photos. And a big thank you the the Little Falls Ramblers. We love you guys!

Watershed Cleanup

Saturday is the 22nd Annual Potomac River Watershed Cleanup. We will be focusing on the Little Falls Stream Valley Park which runs from MacArthur Blvd to Norwood Park in Chevy Chase.

Find us at three locations
*Mass Ave and Little Falls Parkway
*Little Falls Parkway between River and Mass Ave
*Bethesda Pool, Hillandale and Little Falls Parkway

We'll have bags and gloves!

And talking about picking up trash... Did people notice that LFWA has adopted a highway! The stretch of Little Falls Parkway between River Road and Massachusetts Ave is officially ours to keep clean. We will have litter pick-up parties on the first Saturday of each month. Watch the blog or the website for details.

No Building in the No-Build Zone

Every once in a while, we make it into the news. Check out this article in this week's Gazette concerning the Town of Somerset's proposal to build a new pool house next to the creek.

www.gazette.net/stories/09162009/bethnew200422_32535.shtml

The Town's proposal for renovation places a new building within 50 feet of the stream bank (where the handicapped parking is for those who know the site). The 600 square foot structure would house a kitchen and storage room. A basement is also suggested for this new building. The old pool house would remain on the same foot print, but be considerably renovated. Copies of the plan are on the Town website.

The background on this project is that some 35 years ago, the Town of Somerset built a pool and pool house right next to the creek. The entire facility is located in what today is called "the no-build zone", a 150 foot stream buffer. If the building was proposed today, it couldn't be built in this spot as no buildings are allowed in this important environmental feature. (btw, I'm not sure how the 150 foot buffer came to be a law, but you can be sure that environmentalists fought hard for this, especially given the strength of the developer lobby!)

Today, the Somerset Pool House is in grave need of renovation. There is considerable structural damage and the floor of the women's locker room is in danger of collapsing into the pump room located directly below. The County will not prevent Somerset from renovating the pool house despite its location creek side nor will it make the town remove the building, but the County will be monitoring the environmental impact of the proposed renovations and requiring that the new project conform to present day stormwater management requirements. At the meetings with County officials that I attended, they also emphasized that the Town should try to mitigate the impact of the impervious surfaces of the pool and pool house by creating as much new pervious surface as possible.

In my humble opinion, I fail to see how putting a new building as close to the stream as possible can be considered in the spirit of mitigating the environmental impact of the facility. Even more critical than the 150 foot buffer is the first 50 feet. The new building would be smack in this 50 foot area. Although there is a parking lot there now, putting the new building next to the creek would take out an area of landscaping which provides some stormwater management. More important, this landscaping strip allows some recharging of the ground water which is essential to the health of several large trees located on the stream bank.

The Town has the opportunity to make this an environmental show piece and mitigate some of the damage that was done 35 years ago. There are other ways to renovate the pool house. I would like to see the town consider other options that would either not increase the footprint of the building (like a second floor), or would site the new rooms further from the creek on surface that is already impervious. There is amply room on the pool deck which is already an impervious surface to put a 600 square foot building.

The Little Falls Watershed Alliance has requested a meeting with the Town to discuss the project and how to mitigate the effects that it has on the Little Falls Branch. Hopefully, we will get some answers to my concerns.

Sarah Morse

First Annual Meeting - September 13

Long summer and not much happened for the Little Falls Watershed Alliance. But, we're back now with our first Annual Meeting and Celebration!

Meet us in Norwood Park (4700 Norwood Drive, Chevy Chase) for live music, food and fun. Steve Dryen will be there to talk about watershed issues and what we can do to improve our environment. David Batson and the newly named Little Falls Ramblers will entertain us and there will be food!

Bring a snack to share. Rain or Shine.