News

On the morning of January 18, 2016, the annual Martin Luther King Day of Service and winter’s coldest day so far, 20 hardy volunteers organized by the Northern Virginia Conservation Trust (NVCT) visited the Dyke Marsh Wildlife Preserve.   Braving temperatures in the high teens and a brisk wind whipping across the river, the group removed English ivy climbing up trees and collected five bags and a plastic crate of trash. 

In September 2015, a team from the North Carolina Botanical Garden, working with National Park Service staff and the Friends of Dyke Marsh, collected thousands of pumpkin ash seeds (by the bunch, pictured) from a score of different trees in the preserve.  The team has concluded that the seeds are likely viable and in early 2016, they are drying them for long-term storage. 

The November 30 Chesapeake Bay Journal includes an article by Whitney Pipkin on the Dyke Marsh restoration project, its need, history and near-term schedule.  Thank you, Chesapeake Bay Journal.

Among many other accomplishments, Henry David Thoreau and Thomas Jefferson were diligent phenologists.  They kept detailed journals in which they recorded the timing of events in nature -- when trees leafed out, when flowers bloomed, when the ground was warm enough to plant.

FODMer Laura Sebastianelli lives on the edge of the western part of the Dyke Marsh Wildlife Preserve, the 26 acres west of the George Washington Memorial Parkway, a place she describes as "rich with natural sounds."

Laura admits to a “natural bias,” meaning she loves the sound of nature.  She wrote, "Now technically nature includes us humans, but I confess my bias is for birds, insects, frogs, toads, mammals, gentle wind blowing through treetop leaves and water lapping at shoreline edges." 

With this playlist, Laura shares some of the wonderful sounds of Dyke Marsh. American bullfrog picture courtesy of Laura Sebastianelli.