Letters Needed to Council NOW to Support Willett Branch in the Westbard Sector

The Planning Board has submitted its proposed plan for the Westbard Sector and includes strong support for naturalizing the Willett Branch and creating a new stream valley park - a ribbon of green cutting through the sector. The plan is now in the hands of the County Council who are holding public hearings this week. The plan then moves to their PHED committee who will make recommendations for the final vote.
LFWA is busy advocating for the creek. We have a working group for the project and have leafleted, petitioned, and are meeting with Council members to get their support not only for including the project but for getting it built. We have information HERE about how you can help bring this vision to fruition. Writing letters of support is very important at this time. We have names, addresses and an easy email link with sample letter HERE.
LFWA testified before the Council on February 2 outlining our support for the plan and appeal for bringing it to fruition.
The restoration is also very personal to me and below is the testimony that I gave before the Council at the February 2 meeting. I appended pictures that were submitted with the written testimony. If you haven't had a chance to look at the creek, I urge you to make some time. It's only a short walk, but it will be eye opening.
While there is much opposition to the entire Westbard Plan, the one thing that people have agreed on is the need to restore the creek. We are optimistic that it will pass the Council's scrutiny and make it into the new Master Plan. The challenge will be getting it funded and built.
Please visit HERE to learn how you can help.
Thank you for your support, Sarah Morse Executive Director Little Falls Watershed Alliance

Sarah Morse Testimony on Westbard Sector Plan County Council Public Hearing Feb. 2, 2016
I’m Sarah Morse and I live in Somerset, adjacent to the Westbard sector. I’m also the Executive Director of the Little Falls Watershed Alliance, but I am testifying as an individual.
I’m here to speak for the creek, to ask you to support the proposed Willett Branch Park and naturalization of the creek as outlined in the Westbard Master Plan re-write. Lots of people don’t know that there is even a creek in the sector, but I can see the Willett Branch from my house. It’s in a big cement ditch – the proper term for it is concrete-lined creek. It’s paved all the way through the Westbard Sector and you can walk the entire length in the creek on pavement. In fact, I have. It was a favorite place for my children to walk our dog, which sounds kind of idyllic - creek, dogs, kids. However, the creek is anything but idyllic, the walls are covered in graffiti and the banks are used in many places as dumping grounds for local businesses. You can find household appliances, shopping carts, newspaper stands as well as tires, landscaping debris, bottles and all kinds of other trash. In some places, the banks have eroded into the creek and you can see that the trash is layers and layers deep. Parking lots go right up to the edge and when it rains, run-off carrying a toxic mix of chemicals goes directly in the creek. I have pictures in my printed testimony.
It was horrifying for me to discover this just a stone’s throw from my house. This is the type of creek you see in blighted neighborhoods, not in established affluent areas. It’s the kind of creek they restore when they do urban renewal projects; the creek goes from eye sore to major amenity in the area and it gets a lot of press. There are dozens of examples of this type of transformation – Carroll Creek in Frederick is one of the best. What was once an industrial blight is now beautiful urban park, a show case for the city and major amenity for the re-development of the area. People crowd to it and there are restaurants on the banks and spaces for picnics and concerts.
So, when the first charrettes proposed making Willett Branch into a park, I was so excited. Not only would it fix a major eyesore and have environmental benefits, it would be a major amenity for the area. Imagine a new Westbard where the creek is the focus of the area, where businesses instead of turning their backs to the creek and using it as a dumping ground, embrace the creek. Imagine restaurants and shops creek-side with outdoor seating. Imagine people walking in this new naturalized area, pushing strollers enjoying nature. Imagine how wonderful it would be to have this instead of a concrete ditch.
With the Westbard Sector Plan and the imminent re-development, we have a chance to have this for our neighborhood and for Montgomery County. It would be show place for the entire area, a draw for new residents, a respite for the neighborhood. Even the developers who would have something to crow about – a ribbon of green cutting through the sector.
The County Planner and Park Department did a wonderful job of thinking this through and creating a vision that will serve the county for generations. I can’t thank them enough for pushing for this and getting it into the master plan rewrite and finally, approved by the Planning Board.
I know that you’ve heard a lot of testimony about what people don’t like in the new plan, but this is something to support. A naturalized creek and new park will be a legacy for the area, something everyone can be proud of. We need this for the environment, for a respite and for our grandchildren. I hope you will vote to keep it in the plan and further - work to seeing it to fruition.
Thank you for your time.

A New Life for the Willett Branch; A New Park for the Westbard Sector

New development is coming to the Westbard sector and it will increase the density of the area three-fold.  New residential and mixed use building will be where small shops once operated.  With this change, we MUST have green space.  The Draft Master Plan proposes a new Stream Valley Park and a naturalized Willett Branch creek which would run through the sector like "a green ribbon" providing residents with walking trails, seating and a way to enjoy the outdoors.

Email the Planning Board 

HERE

 to tell them that you support this vision for the sector and that no changes should be made or exceptions granted in the new master plan. If the email doesn't work for you, you can download a sample letter 

HERE.

Email NOW!  

The Planning Board meets on December 3 to discuss the environment elements of the Proposed plan.

WE WANT THIS, 

Willett Branch as it could be.

NOT THIS,

Sample Letter Supporting the Naturalization of the Willett Branch in the Westbard Sector.

Download a copy 

HERE

.

Dear

______________________

I support a Westbard Sector Plan that includes a naturalized Willett Branch.  The environmental planners have come up with an innovated design that makes the creek an amenity for the area – a place where people can walk, enjoy nature and congregate.  The current state of this creek is shameful.  The walls are covered in graffiti and the banks are lined with trash.  It winds behind the building where it is out of sight and out of mind. But it doesn’t have to be that way.  Instead of turning their backs to the creek, new development would embrace the creek as part of their open space making the Westbard Sector a show place for the County.

Moving forward, we need open space for the new residents of the Westbard sector to stretch their legs and enjoy the beautiful natural area that the Little Falls watershed has to offer.  Please vote to support a Master Plan with strong environmental component and a naturalized Willett Branch with no exemptions or waiver for any development or developer. 

Sincerely,

______________________________

Contact Information

Planning Board

Casey Anderson, Chair

M-NCPPC

8787 Georgia Ave.

Silver Spring, MD 20910

MCP-Chair@mncppc-mc.org

County Council

Council Office Building

100 Maryland Avenue, 5th Floor

Rockville, MD 20850

county.council@montgomerycountymd.gov

County Executive Ike Leggett

Office of County Executive

Executive Office Building, 2nd floor

101 Monroe St., Rockville, MD 20850

ike.leggett@montgomerycountymd.gov

ocemail@montgomerycountymd.gov  

Mow Your Leaves for a Better Environment!

Big piles of leaves by the curb, a certain sign of autumn and lots of fun for kids to jump in. What could be wrong with that? Not to be the Grinch Who Stole Leaf Pile Jumping, but everything. Leaves in the gutter make their way to the creek where they decompose and cause nutrient bloom. Leaves in the gutter mean no leaves around the base of your trees where they provide an organic blanket for the trees during the winter. Leaves in the gutter mean you are wasting valuable nutrients for your lawn.

So, this year, take a tip from Winterthur, the spectacular DuPont gardens in Delaware and mow your leaves right on the lawn.

From a Washington Post article

For more than 20 years, the gardeners at this expansive and famously leafy estate have been mowing leaves with (...) lawn mowers. The machines inhale the leaves, chop them into shreds and deposit them as the mower moves along. Engine noise is confined to the muted chug of the mower, not the incessant high-pitch whine of the leaf blower.And there are no bags to unhook and drag anywhere, just a confetti-like litter left on the grass. Ripped into morsel-size pieces, the flakes melt away in two or three weeks as microbes and worms do their work of enriching the soil.

It is such a simple system that (Chris) Strand, garden director, and Long, assistant garden curator, wonder why it hasn't caught on. They are certainly converts in their own gardens. "I spend a fraction of the time I used to spend raking and transporting leaves," says Strand.

This process is endorsed by none other than the Scotts Fertilizer Company. On their website, they recommend you

Take the grass catcher off your mower and mow over the leaves on your lawn. You want to reduce your leaf clutter to dime-size pieces. You'll know you're done when about half an inch of grass can be seen through the mulched leaf layer. Once the leaf bits settle in, microbes and worms get to work recycling them. Any kind of rotary-action mower will do the job, and any kind of leaves can be chopped up. With several passes of your mower, you can mulch up to 18 inches of leaf clutter.

So, give your rake a rest, save the local government some money and help the environment all by mowing your leaves. It works for the Winterthur Estates and it will work for you. When spring arrives, you'll see great results. The leaf litter you mowed this fall will have disappeared. And your grass will look greener than ever.

And if your children need a pile to jump it, rake them one and when they're jumped out, put those leaves under your trees and around your shrubs - free and beautiful mulch!

Great Lawn Fertilizer and Winter Habitat

The National Wildlife Federation states "In addition to becoming natural fertilizer for your soil, leaves that stay where they fall create “mini ecosystems,” according to another post by the group. Chipmunks, salamanders, earthworms, turtles and other small creatures live in the leaves or use them for food and nesting material, and butterflies and moth pupae like to spend the winter in the leaf layers."

University of Michigan Study Endorses Mulching

Here's another good article about mowing your leaves that sings praises to the value of mulching your leaves right on the grass.

http://www.mlive.com/homeandgarden/index.ssf/2012/10/mulched_leaves_offer_food_prot.html

The author addresses the problem of oak leaves - hard to mulch, but with patience, they will shred.

Fine Gardening Magazine Encourages Leaving the Leaves

Mowing leaves into your lawn can improve its vigor, and unraked leaves in planting beds don’t smother shade-tolerant perennials
by Terry Ettinger

If you dread the annual fall leaf-raking marathon, I have good news for you: Raking and collecting leaves every autumn is a tradition without scientific basis. Research has proven that mowing leaves into your lawn can improve its vigor, and observation shows that unraked leaves in planting beds don’t smother shade-tolerant perennials. Click HERE to read more.

Tallamy on Caterpillars, Song Birds and Native Plants

What a treat to hear Doug Tallamy talk last week. Doug is the author of Bringing Nature Home: How Native Plants Sustain Wildlife in Our Gardens. He advocates very persuasively for native bio-diversity in our own yard and his talk featured lots of pictures of caterpillars. Caterpillars, it turns out, tell us a lot about the health of our eco-system. Each type of caterpillar needs a specific host plant and if you don't have that host plant, you won't have the caterpillar or its adult phase - butterfly or moth. And we need butterflies to pollinate, but more important we need a lot of caterpillars to feed song bird nestlings, small mammals, larger mammals, spiders and more. And we need a lot of different types of caterpillars because with ecological health is measured in bio-diversity.

Tallamy wants us to create native areas in our own yards. We could focus on restoring natural area, but he points out that all the lawn in American equal many, many more acres than the National Parks, so they are a logical place to start to restore native plants. If just half the lawns in American planted native plants, it would give us some 20 million acres of native space.

One take away was just try a 12' by 12' native spot in your yard. He counted caterpillars in 12 x 12 native gardens versus 12 x 12 gardens with no native plants. It was shocking - the plots with native plants had 100s of caterpillars and the non-native 1 or 2. This is because butterflies and moths only eat the native plants they evolved with. He also spent a lot of time counting how many caterpillars birds need to feed their young - something like 6,000 for a little bird feeding three nestlings. So, even a little native plot will go a long way to helping the food chain.

Some good resources for native plant lists and sales can be found on our website at
at http://www.lfwa.org/bay-friendly-gardening and http://www.lfwa.org/updates/are-you-attracting-butterflies-your-garden

Also, Doug Tallamy's website - http://www.bringingnaturehome.net/ is an excellent source for bang-for-your-buck plant lists.
Sarah

Sarah Morse
Executive Director
Little Falls Watershed Alliance

Tips for Controlling Lesser Celandine

Lesser Celandine is a ground cover with shiny heart-shaped leaves and a little yellow flower. Look for it in early February.

Lesser Celandine Bulblets

Every year, we get a lot of emails oohing and ahhing over the beautiful yellow flowers that have blanketed the Parks. These are lesser celandine (Ficaria verna) and while they are pretty, they are diabolical. A non-native invasive from Europe, it has crowded out native spring wildflowers to the point where we are seeing none. Our native birds and pollinators cannot feed on the celandine, so we are also see a decline in native insects. One field study of lesser celandine found no pollinators in the site they were censusing. That is scary! But the most scary part is that the celandine cannot be pulled or easily controlled. It grows from little corn size tubers which live 8 inches underground. If you pull the tops, the tubers break off and they sprout again.

For more information, visit HERE.

In April, 2015, Meghan Fellows, who was in charge of the Weed Warrior program at Montgomery Parks and has been monitoring the problem, sent this information to weed warriors on how to control or eradicate it. It's lengthy but thorough and worth reading. One take away is don't plant lesser celandine in your yard. It will take over everywhere. And if you have it, dig it out ASAP! Don’t let it spread. You need to get every bulblet and throw away the soil.

View fullsize

Lesser Celandine taking over the forest floor. No native spring wildflowers have survived the invasion.

View fullsize

What a forest without Lesser Celandine looks like in the early spring. Spring beauties are plentiful as well as a variety of other spring wild flowers.

From Meghan Fellows:

Dear Weed Warriors,
Many of you have sent in questions and concerns about lesser celandine.

Yes, it is getting worse. Floods and dispersal events spread this plant throughout our area. They are also extremely good at taking over new ground. Those pesky yellow carpets of weeds have replaced what should be a bounty of spring ephemerals (and their pollinators) are it is painful to watch - we want to DO something.

Unfortunately, science has not kept up with our need. There is NO good, reliable way to kill celandine.

Some popular suggestions:

Dig it out.

Most people know not to pull it out - those pesky underground bulbils stick around and thrive in the disturbed soil. So people have resorted to digging out the clumps whole. This can work in areas where the soil, moisture and all other factors are inline. It generates a ton of waste (soil and plant matter) and does a number on the health of the soil you're leaving behind.

This waste cannot be home composted, so the only option is to send it to the county yard waste compost.

This works best in garden beds, or in very small infestations (1-10 plants).

20% Acetic acid

20% Acetic acid has been heralded as the organic alternate to glyphosate. Many people forget that when you're using it to kill plants, it is a pesticide (not allowed for volunteers to use on parkland). However, let's explore this tool as to whether it is useful in a private situation. The mechanism of how it kills is important to consider when trying it out on a new species/situation. It is a top "burn" killer. Meaning above ground plant parts will die, but the roots do not die. Therefore this would best used on an annual plant, or in a situation where you could apply it repeatedly (not more often than every 2 weeks). 20% Acetic acid is actually recommended for sidewalk/driveway cracks and in gravel. But do be careful and wear protective gear, this is a strong acid and can burn. Household vinegar is 5% acetic acid and appears to have no consistent effect.

Lesser celandine is a perennial - 20% acetic acid is unlikely to have any long term effect. I know of no direct, replicated experimental studies on the species/treatment, only anecdotes.

Here is a paper from University of Maryland on the topic: http://extension.umd.edu/sites/default/files/_docs/programs/ipmnet/Vinegar-AnAlternativeToGlyphosate-UMD-Smith-Fiola-and-Gill.pdf

Flame weeding

Flame weeding using a propane based torch is another method that achieves the top "burn." It leaves no residues at all in the soil. The roots/bulbils may or may not be affected. It has been used extensively for stiltgrass - key thing to note, stiltgrass is an annual. Theory says flame weeding should not work on lesser celandine, but a few Weed Warriors and I have an extensive trial set up in Sligo, Little Falls and Capitol View Homewood Parks. We have been working on this since February. I hope to finish collecting data by late May, analyze it this summer and maybe have a new method for next year. Or at least an answer as to whether it might work

Glyphosate

The only current reliable method of killing lesser celandine is to use glyphosate. As you all know we only use herbicides when it is absolutely necessary, and then in the minimum amount required.

The protocol for lesser celandine control is to foliar spray celandine in the time in the spring after it has leaves but before it goes to flower (typically less than 50% of the plants have buds). This is an incredibly narrow window that we are now out of. This year it was about March 27-April 6.

You must repeat this cycle for 3 years in a row.

I read this summary as there is no good method for controlling celandine. Many people have told me what worked for them in their own garden, and we appreciate that - we are looking at extensive infestations throughout parkland. All of the stream valleys and many of the parks in between do have celandine. This is a massive infestation.

What can you do?

Avoid areas with celandine. Avoid digging in them, or even walking through them. In a few months (usually by mid-June) the celandine has senesced and you can go back to work.

Garlic mustard on the other hand is out now, and there are key spots in the county that could use a lot of help (Sligo for one). Please pick garlic mustard!

Support efforts to research better ways to kill celandine.

Grow native ephemerals, if you can, in your own spaces. Studies have shown private yards can provide refugia for native pollinators and insects.

And please remind people not to plant lesser celandine! I've been told a number of stories of people removing it from parkland to put in their yards as it was "so pretty."

Meghan Fellows
Weed Warrior Volunteer Coordinator
meghan.fellows@montgomeryparks.org

Equity One Releases Concept Drawings for Westbard Sector

This is from

Robest Dyer@BethesdaRow

-

Equity One is showing the first images of its plans for properties it owns in the Westbard Sector of Bethesda, and previewed them at a media event on Wednesday, Feb 4, 2015. This was a somewhat unusual move, to reveal the renderings for reporters instead of at a large community meeting, or pre-submittal public meeting. The firm's Executive VP of Development, Michael Berfield, said he doesn't anticipate having a large meeting like those held last year again, saying that "at some point they become counterproductive." Instead, Berfield said, he is meeting with small groups, such as the Kenwood and Springfield Civic Associations. Click

HERE

for complete story...

Dog Poop and Fecal Bacteria

• Did you know that the fecal bacteria count in the Little Falls Branch is dangerously high?

• Did you know that dog wastes contributes significantly to the count?

• Did you know that by scoop the poop and disposing of it in your toilet or trash can, you can make a difference!

Dog Poop has been on a lot of people's mind lately!  It seems like snow brings out the worse in us and no one wants to pick it up.  We all know no one wants to step it it, but there are environmental considerations too.  Yes, it is organic and it does break down, but the ground can only absorb so much.  The rest is washed off the yards, out of the woods and into the creek.

The average dog produces almost 300 pounds of poop a year.  That's a lot to step in, but also a lot of pollution.  

According to the NJ Department of Environmental Protection: 

Pet waste contains bacteria and parasites, as well as organic matter and nutrients, notably nitrogen and phosphorous.

Some of the diseases that can be spread from pet waste are:

Campylobacteriosis- a bacterial infection that causes diarrhea in humans.Salmonellosis- the most common bacterial infection transmitted to humans from animals. Symptoms include fever, muscle aches, headache, vomiting, and diarrhea.Toxocarisis- roundworms transmitted from animals to humans. Symptoms include vision loss, rash, fever, or cough.In addition to these diseases, the organic matter and nutrients contained in pet waste can degrade water quality. When pet waste is washed into a surface water body, the waste decays. This process of breaking down the organic matter in the waste uses up dissolved oxygen and releases ammonia. Low oxygen levels, increased ammonia and warm summer water temperatures can kill fish.

Excess phosphorous and nitrogen added to surface waters can lead to cloudy, green water from accelerated algae and weed growth. Decay of this extra organic matter can depress oxygen levels, killing organisms. Objectionable odors can also occur.

You can make a difference for clean water and clean shoes by scooping the poop.

 A simple plastic bag full of poop in the trash, or even better, flushed down your toilet keeps fecal bacteria out of the creek.  

Westbard Sector Planning Meeting, Tuesday

Westbard Sector Plan Public Meeting
Tuesday, September 23, 7:00 to 9:00 pm
Walt Whitman HS Cafeteria
7100 Whittier Blvd., Bethesda.

The Westbard Shopping Center and surrounding properties have been bought by Equity One, with the intent on redeveloping the area. However, before it can be redeveloped, the Sector Plan must be reworked. The last plan for the area was done in 1982 and does not allow for the type of development they are envisioning.

Montgomery County is in the process of developing a new plan for the area. On Tuesday, they will hold the first public meeting. Citizen input into the process is critical. Sector plans are the map for future development. What is on the plan will be the rule until the next plan is developed - usually 20 or 30 years later. So, it's important that they get the plan right!

More information is at the County website - http://montgomeryplanning.org/community/westbard/