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About 40 people participated in the Rock Creek Eco-tour on June 5.  Click the photo for a larger view of those nifty green t-shirts.

FORCE and the North Bethesda Rotary Club teamed up for a special event on June 5—a Bike Tour of Rock Creek.   This was the first of what FORCE plans as a series of bike “eco-tours” that will cover different sections of the creek.

The tour led from Meadowbrook Park (Candy Cane City) in Chevy Chase downstream to Peirce Mill and back, a round-trip distance of about 12 miles.

Riders stopped at several locations along the route, where representatives from FORCE talked about this historic and natural treasure that runs through our community.   Click here for photos and descriptions of the sites. Over 40 people came out to enjoy a beautiful morning  bike ride and the opportunity to learn more about Rock Creek.

The British Embassy has joined forces with Friends of Rock Creek’s Environment to tackle English ivy in Rock Creek Park.

English ivy is an aggressive invader of Washington’s natural areas. This imported vine spreads from landscaped areas into Rock Creek Park, where it covers and smothers the plants that grow there naturally. English ivy grows up tree trunks and into the canopy. Ivy overgrowth weakens and eventually kills trees, and added weight makes it more likely that a tree or branch will fall during a storm.

On Earth Day, British Embassy staff members and their families and students from the British School cut, sawed, and pulled ivy that is choking trees in the Normanstone section of Rock Creek Park. The Embassy, located at 3100 Massachusetts Avenue NW in Washington, is across Massachusetts Avenue from the park. The British have already removed English ivy planted as part of the landscaping on their own property and then moved to save trees in the neighboring woodlands.  Click here for the  Public Radio story ("British Fight Rock Creek Invader").

Numerous embassies and ambassadors’ residences border Rock Creek Park.  FORCE has worked with the Embassy of Belgium to clear English ivy from Normanstone in January.

Thank you to all the great volunteers who turned out on April 10-11 to haul trash out of parks along the entire length of Rock Creek.  It was a gorgeous day, and groups gathered at nearly 50 locations to collect cans, bottles, scrap metal, plastic, grocery carts, construction waste, and other trash.   Click here for a map of Rock Creek Extreme Cleanup locations. 

And there are still more cleanups to come!  Check the calendar at the right for details.

The Rock Creek Extreme Cleanup is part of the Alice Ferguson Foundation's 22nd Annual Potomac River Watershed Cleanup and is supported by a generous grant from REI.

By Maria Sgambati

Approximately 25 energetic volunteers turned out for the first “Friends of Melvin Hazen” group activity.  Their first task? Start removing English Ivy and other non-native species from the upper portion of Melvin Hazen tributary, which runs through DC’s Cleveland park neighborhood and is bounded by Connecticut Avenue, Reno Road, Rodman, and Tilden streets.

The idea of the group came last fall, when neighbors Lindsey Lucke, Cynthia Ferranto, and her husband John Welsh decided they wanted to do something to clean up the park.  Maria Sgambati, a former Cleveland Park resident, had led two stream clean-ups and connected them with Beth Mullin, Executive Director of FORCE, and from there the ball started rolling.

“This really is part of the overall the vision for FORCE ,” said Beth Mullin, “To have citizens who have a vested interested in the streams and parks in their backyard  and to create community groups that commit to taking care of the streams.”

On hand was Ken Ferrebee, a biologist with the National Park Service in Rock Creek Park, who spent part of a beautiful spring Saturday helping educate volunteers about invasive species in the park and proper removal techniques. “We really couldn’t do all the work we are doing on invasives without the support of dedicated volunteers.  Invasive plant species represent a significant threat to both native plant species and habitats in Rock Creek Park.

“Our motto is ‘Savin’ Hazen,'” said Lindsey Lucke, whose home backs up to Melvin Hazen.  As a landscape architect, Cynthia Ferranto, really wanted to tackle the invasive plants.   “We walk our dog through there every day and I could see how the ivy and other invasive plants were taking over.”

The next event for the group will be an April 10 stream cleanup as part of the FORCE Extreme  Cleanup.