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Join the Friends of Dyke Marsh Wednesday, September 22, 7:30 p.m., at the Huntley Meadows Park Visitor Center, 3701 Lockheed Boulevard, Alexandria, VA 22306, for our quarterly membership meeting. The Mount Vernon Group of the Sierra Club has agreed to cosponsor the meeting. The meeting is free and all are welcome.
FODM will feature “native son” Chris Miller, President of the Piedmont Environmental Council, at the September 22 meeting. Miller will discuss how what we do in our community impacts Dyke Marsh, the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay and how the preservation and restoration of Dyke Marsh affect the larger environment. The Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay have consistently received grades of C or D for their health. Tidal wetlands, like Dyke Marsh, can be important natural “filters” that remove pollutants, but since they are at the end of streams flowing from the land, they can also become catch basins for anything that runs off from the land, from polluted-laden stormwater to plastic bottles to tires. Experts say that sprawl, suburban development and road building have dumped sediment into Hunting Creek and other tributaries of the Potomac. Runoff from ever-expanding impervious surfaces, from parking lots to McMansion roofs, is the fastest-growing water quality problem in the region. Chris Miller will discuss how stronger land use policies and other actions can help clean up the Potomac and the Bay and how the Friends of Dyke Marsh can play a role. The Dyke Marsh Wildlife Preserve is part of the mosaic of the larger ecosystem and conservationists are key to a healthy environment. Everything is interconnected. “The benefits of individual conservation efforts in the absence of better land use plans at a regional scale, will be overwhelmed by the direct and indirect consequences of sprawling land use patterns,” says Miller, who grew up in the Mount Vernon area.
Fall Colors Walk Set For October 23rd Please join us on Saturday, October 23rd, for a walk to enjoy the fall colors and observe the wildlife at Dyke Marsh. The walk is being co-sponsored by the Friends of Dyke Marsh and the Potowmack Chapter of the Virginia Native Plant Society. It is free and open to all. We are very fortunate to have Ed Smith as our walk leader. Ed works as a biologist in the Amazonia Department of the Smithsonian National Zoo, focusing on amphibian conservation and husbandry, and a few weeks each year also find him taking groups to Central and South America as a Smithsonian Journeys Study Tour Leader. A lecturer for Smithsonian Associates and an instructor for Smithsonian Scholars in Schools programs, Ed enjoys teaching elementary, lay, collegiate, and professional audiences alike. When not in a lab, aquarium, conservatory, or classroom he’d rather be outdoors gardening, birding, botanizing, or searching for amphibians and reptiles. We plan to meet at 10 a.m. in the south parking lot of the Belle Haven picnic area. The walk will be held rain or shine and we hope you will join us! The following is a copy of a letter to the editor written by FODM President Glenda Booth and published in the August 26 edition of the Mount Vernon Gazette. Many newcomers view Northern Virginia as a suburban sea of tract homes, dense development, shopping malls and traffic jams. I hope they realize that we are blessed with a natural jewel, which former U. S. Senator John Warner called “a magnificent little oasis.” It is the Dyke Marsh Wildlife Preserve on the banks of the Potomac River in the Mount Vernon area of Fairfax County, just south of Old Town Alexandria. At 485 acres, the preserve is one of the last tidal wetlands on the river. Tidal freshwater marshes are rare, says Dr. Elizabeth Wells, a George Washington University wetland plant expert. This wetland complex is one of the most significant temperate, tidal, freshwater, riverine marshes in the national park system. Thus, it is a national treasure as well. Congress designated it as a preserve in 1959 “so that fish and wildlife development and their preservation as wetland wildlife habitat shall be paramount.” Today, it has 300 known species of plants, 6,000 arthropods, 38 fish, 16 reptiles, 14 amphibians and over 230 birds, Like all wetlands, Dyke Marsh provides ecological services: flood control, water quality enhancement, habitat, fish nursery, shoreline stabilization and recreational opportunities. It’s been excavated, dumped in and invaded by exotics. Commendably, the U.S. National Park Service is moving to restore damaged areas. The Dyke Marsh Wildlife Preserve is “the nearest thing to primeval wilderness in the immediate vicinity of the city,” wrote naturalist Louis Halle in 1947. Newcomers’ lives can be enriched by the few remaining natural areas like Dyke Marsh that have not fallen prey to the bulldozer and asphalt spreader. Visit www.fodm.org to learn more. President's Message, Spring 2010 - Glenda C. Booth Ah, spring. The mud-streaked leaves of the spatterdock are emerging from the muck and reaching for the sun as I write. Turtles are abundant and so far, fortunately, we have not heard of any turtle poaching incidents. Red-winged Blackbirds are trilling their kon-ka-reeeee every minute it seems. Migrant songbirds are returning and many animals are having and raising their young. We think there are nine Osprey nests in the marsh and Ospreys have commandeered the Bald Eagle nest of last year at the Belle Haven Golf Course. By early June, we hope to hear the songs of the Marsh Wren. As NPS Biologist Brent Steury wrote last year, “Writers insistent on describing the song have likened it to a dry, clattering sewing machine, a reedy, guttural rattle or a liquid gurgle, ending in a mechanical chatter.” Whew! It’s an exciting time in the Dyke Marsh Wildlife Preserve. One somber note: Black rat snakes have been spotted enjoying the spring sun. One was apparently beheaded and the remains hung on a tree near the “dogleg” of the Haul Road in early April. Please report any suspicious activity you observe to the U. S. Park Police, 202-619-7300. Spring has attracted many human visitors to Dyke Marsh as well as you will read in other articles in this newsletter, from U. S. Senate staffers to Girl Scouts and Brownies. NPS Biologist Erik Oberg led an enlightening walk on April 10 and described some of the research underway to support the NPS restoration plan. Don’t miss the plant walk on May 22, to be led by Dr. Elizabeth Wells, George Washington University Botany Professor. We can guarantee you’ll get a real botanic education on this walk. And the continuing Sunday morning bird walks have produced lively reports of abundant avian activity. Thank you to everyone for sharing your time, knowledge and giving spirit. On the good news front, FODM was chosen as the Organization of the Year by the Mount Vernon Council of Citizen Associations. More on that in the next newsletter. We are honored to receive this recognition. As we reported earlier, two hunters were charged on January 1 with violating Virginia hunting regulations in and near DMWP. They went to court on February 24. One was fined $100; one case was dismissed. FODM will assist the National Park Service in bringing 600 intermediate school students to DMWP in early May. We continue to participate in the Belle Haven Watershed Advisory Group and will learn more later this year about county plans to address problems in the streams that flow into Dyke Marsh. We weighed in on threats to the Winkler Preserve and Mason Neck State Park. We have made several presentations on the preserve and FODM’s efforts. If you know of a group that would like a power point presentation on DMWP or to see On the Edge, our film about Dyke Marsh, let me know. We want to spread the good word. This spring has seen a virtual influx of people helping in Dyke Marsh. On April 10, 33 people helped clean up, removed over 36 bags of trash and raked the storm wash debris off the Haul Road trail. Thank you to Brownie Troop 1849 based at Waynewood Elementary School for helping. Have you noticed that the refrigerator is now gone from the island? Thank you, NPS. For the entire George Washington Parkway cleanup on April 10, NPS clocked 1,074 volunteer hours that provided $22,392.90 in cost benefit to the agency. NPS assigns a value of $20.85 to each volunteer hour. Several U. S. Senators have been struggling recently to develop a new clean energy bill to address climate change, an effort to get a filibuster-proof bill through the Senate. (The House of Representatives passed a bill last year.) The National Parks and Conservation Association testified in the Senate last fall that national parks are seeing increasing temperatures, drought, fires and flooding. In some areas, insect pests are thriving because of warmer winters and drought-stressed trees. They told Congress, “Keeping rivers, forests, deserts, alpine regions, wetlands and other natural systems healthy helps maintain $730 billion in economic activity generated by outdoor recreation, allows us as a nation to support nearly 6.5 million related jobs – one in 20 across the U.S. economy. This activity also generates $88 billion in state and federal tax revenue. National parks themselves generate at a minimum, more than four dollars in value for every tax dollar invested and support $13.3 billion in local, private sector activity and more than a quarter of a million private sector jobs. Visit www.npca.org. FODMers may wish to share your views with our Members of Congress on climate change and national parks funding. To find and contact your federal legislator, visit www.house.gov and www.senate.gov. Please share your suggestions on how we can make our Friends group even stronger. I look forward to seeing you in our favorite tidal wetland soon.
Take a walk out the Haul Road in Dyke Marsh, and when you
round the bend you will be treated to an open view of the Potomac River on your
right, thanks to Don Robinson (pictured), Ned Stone and Mary Jo Detweiler. The
three meet Friday mornings to remove Bush (Amur) Honeysuckle and other invasive
plants from Dyke Marsh. After they cut invasives to the ground and flag the cut
stems, National Park Service personnel selectively apply herbicides to the
flagged plants. Stone and Robinson have been trained by NPS to identify and
remove invasives. To join this volunteer effort, please contact either Ned
Stone, 703-765-5441 or nedstone@verizon.net, or contact Elizabeth Ketz-Robinson
or Don Robinson at 703-768-1344.
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