One of the highlights of our October 30th Norwood Park Natural History Day was the morning bird walk lead by Pete Givan and Carolyn Peirce. Along with bird list, Pete has provided us with these beautiful pictures.
Little Falls Creek Fails Macro Test; Stream Rated Poor.
Muddy water and a broken water main were the highlights of the Fall stream monitoring last Saturday, October 22. No sooner had our volunteers started to sample than the water started to rise and turn muddy. A woman passing by told us that there had been a water main break at a construction site upstream from our spot. With only three-quarters of the nettings complete, we abandon the water for safer ground.
Fecal Bacteria Monitoring Ends for Season
Thank you to our amazing volunteers for making this program possible and to Joe Barnes for coordinating the effort and publishing the data every week. The data from the final week was consistent with our findings through out the summer. Two sites on the Little Falls Branch pass, two failed and all three sites on the Willett Branch showed dangerously high levels. We are working with the WSSC to track the source of the fecal bacteria.
T-shirt Design Selected for Norwood Park History Day
We have a winner! The Norwood Park Natural History Day t-shirt design competition features Ginkgo, Redbud and Tulip Poplar leaves, and a Monarch Butterfly, as well as one of the well-loved merry-go-rounds at Norwood Park. Thank you to everyone who submitted art work and congratulations to winner Lucy O’Dowd
T-shirt Design Contest
Visiting Westbrook and Sumner Village
This week I had the pleasure of visiting two of our habitat restoration projects to see how the plants were holding up. The goal in these project was to restore native plants to the areas - not so much as a landscaping project, but to bring back the wildflowers and plants that would normally grow in the area. We didn’t need to remove many non-native invasives, but just replaced the existing grass with native plants. I am pleased to say that both projects are doing well; it’s hard to even imagine what they looked like before. And there were butterflies and bees!
The Green Acres Meadow is Blooming!
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.
Bird Count shows 65 Species in Green Acres
Salt monitoring programs shows that effects are felt long after snow events
Volunteers testing creeks in the Little Falls watershed found that although salt readings in area creeks spiked to toxic levels after snow storms, they did not always return to safe levels after the events. Since November 2021, trained LFWA volunteers have tested 8 sites along the Minnehaha, Little Falls and Willett Branch creeks before and after snow storms as well as once a month in the warmer months. Two of the sites along the Little Falls Branch exceeded the threshold that freshwater aquatic life can tolerate over a period of three years even when there was recent storm. Only two sites consistently returned to safe levels after a storm.
Bacteria Monitoring Program Needs Volunteers
Little Falls Watershed Alliance is excited to announce that we are re-starting our bacteria monitoring program June 1 for the Little Falls and Willett Branches. Building on the success of last summer’s program, we will be adding more sites for a total of 6 sampling locations and expanding our sampling frequency from every other week to once a week.
Along testing for E. Coli, we will be looking at pH, water temperature, and air temperature in order to provide up-to-date water quality information for residents during the recreational season. The results will be posted on our website and Facebook page for the public to access.
Citizen Scientists Needed
The key to the program is volunteers. We have selected six locations for testing and we need two or three people to adopt a location to do the sampling. The samples MUST be taken Wednesday mornings and they are sent to the Anacostia Riverkeeper lab for analysis Wednesday by 10:00. All volunteers must attend a short training session.
Please contact us at stormwater@LFWA.org if you are interested in helping out.
Why Monitor?
While the water of our creeks is mostly odorless and looks sparkly clear, the creek is one of the most impaired in Montgomery County. As an urban creek, located in a heavily paved area, stormwater run-off carries a toxic mix of chemicals, trash and other pollutants into the creek. Dog poop left on lawns or dropped into the storm drain system pollutes the creek with fecal matter. The storm drain system flows directly to the creek and after it rains, the volume and velocity of the water is so high that it causes considerable erosion and collapse of the creek banks. Further, sewer lines located under the creek are often exposed by the erosion and leak or break. By testing the E. Coli levels in the creek, we will get an understanding of the extent of fecal pollution and how the fecal count is affected by rain events. Most important, we will be able to advise the public about the safety of the creek for wading and other water activities.
What else do we Monitor?
Benthic Macro-invertebrate Survey: Four times a year since 2016, LFWA has taken a census of the macro-invertebrate life of the creek. We look for diversity of species as well as total number. Using the Benthic Index of Biotic Integrity (BIBI), we are able to grade the health of the creek. Despite having some bio-diversity, our creek consistently rates poor, the lowest grade. Learn about our program HERE.
Salt Monitoring: Winter salting can cause the salinity of creek to rise, making the waters toxic to life. Since 2019, LFWA has participated in the Izaak Walton Salt Watch program. Results are HERE. In the winter of 2021/2022, the salt levels spiked to lethal twice after snow storms.