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Revitalize, Restore, Replant (R3) seeks volunteers

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Fairfax County Stormwater division is seeking plant-knowledgeable volunteers (on a one-off or recurring basis) to help thin/weed native plant gardens installed on school properties around the county through their “Revitalize, Restore, Replant! (R3) program“.

Each school’s garden has been documented with the species planted, and your skill comes in to help remove plants that aren’t those desirable plants as well as to thin natives that have made the garden look “messy”. Volunteers can work with Stormwater to even take some natives home, if that is of interest. Additionally, if you know of better species that you’d recommend for a certain garden, suggestions are welcome! The spreadsheet (R3 Plantings and Survivorship) has school names, locations (city/zip), and types of plants included to make the task even easier.

How often would you need to visit? Overall, it would be great to get volunteers (not necessarily the same one) to visit each garden 3-4 times a year, with a few times during the growing seasons and then a March visit to help prep the site for spring growth.

If you’re interested in helping one-off or on a recurring basis, please contact watersheds@fairfaxcounty.gov.

This project qualifies for service hours as Project S224, Stewardship projects for Fairfax County Public Schools.

NVSWCD stream monitoring workshops and sessions

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Reston Association Stream Monitoring Workshop

When: Saturday, July 13, 8:00-11:00am

Where: Reston VA

Spring is here and the warm weather is creeping back. What better way to enjoy the changing seasons than to get your feet wet in one of Reston’s streams? RA welcomes new volunteers to assist with stream monitoring at several locations. Get involved with a small team to collect data and identify insects with the goal of assessing the health of Reston’s streams. Not only do you get to learn about streams, it also provides an opportunity to make new friends! Learn more and register.

Pope’s Head Creek Stream Monitoring Session

When: Saturday, July 13, 9:00am-12:00pm

Where: Old Colchester Rd., Fairfax Station VA

Please join us at this lovely site where we can drive right up to the stream bank. No experience necessary. Find details here. RSVP to Margaret here.

Little Pimmit Run Stream Monitoring Workshop

When: Saturday, July 13, 10:00am-12:30pm

Where: Off Maddux Lane, McLean, VA

Join NVSWCD as we discover aquatic life in Pimmit Run! This official NVSWCD stream monitoring workshop covers watershed health, what macroinvertebrates tell us about stream quality, and what you can do to prevent pollution in your local stream. This workshop will also help to prepare you to become a certified stream monitor, and is the last NVSWCD workshop before the certification workshop in August. Registration is limited. Send questions to Ashley Palmer and RSVP here.

Lake Accotink Stream Cleanup

When: Sunday, July 14, 9:00-11:00am

Where: Lake Accotink Park, Springfield VA

* Lake Accotink Trail entrance at Ellet and Inverchapel Road

* Lake Accotink Marina

* Lake Accotink Trail entrance at the end of Danberry Forest Drive (Kirkham and Uxbridge Court Playground

Meet at one of the above locations, pick up trash bags from the volunteer lead, and hit the trail to fill your trash bags with debris. Long sleeves, gloves, boots, and long pants are encouraged. Learn more on the Friends of Accotink Creek calendar.

Broad Run/Dawkin’s Branch Stream Monitoring Session

When: Saturday, August 3, 10:30am-12:30pm

Where: Bristow, VA

Parking is in the upper parking lot of Victory Lakes Elementary School parking at 12001 Tygart Lake, Bristow VA 20136. Follow signs near the playground to the Broad Run trail near the kiosk area. Join Sonnie Coffey at this beautiful adopted outdoor learning site for more water quality awareness in Prince William County. You’re invited to come learn more about benthic invertebrates and how they can determine the water quality of a stream. For more information and RSVP, please contact Sonnie Coffey.

Reston Association Stream Monitoring Workshop

When: Wednesday, August 14, 1:00-4:00pm

Where: Walker Nature Center, Reston VA

Summer is here and the warm weather is creeping back. What better way to enjoy the changing seasons than to get your feet wet in one of Reston’s streams? RA welcomes new volunteers to assist with stream monitoring at several locations. Get involved with a small team to collect data and identify insects with the goal of assessing the health of Reston’s streams. Not only do you get to learn about streams, it also provides an opportunity to make new friends! Learn more and register.

Reston Association Stream Monitoring Workshop

When: Saturday, August 24, 8:00-11:00am

Where: Reston VA

Summer is here and the warm weather is creeping back. What better way to enjoy the changing seasons than to get your feet wet in one of Reston’s streams? RA welcomes new volunteers to assist with stream monitoring at several locations. Get involved with a small team to collect data and identify insects with the goal of assessing the health of Reston’s streams. Not only do you get to learn about streams, it also provides an opportunity to make new friends! Learn more and register.

NOVA Stream Monitor Certification Workshop

This event is jointly organized by the Northern Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District and the Prince William Soil and Water Conservation District and is open to anyone aspiring to become a Certified Stream Monitor.

Once certified, a monitor can adopt a stream site to monitor quarterly. The certification/training follows the Virginia Save Our Streams (SOS) monitoring protocol and the data collected is sent to the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ).

All certified monitors are also invited to seize this opportunity to meet with the Chesapeake Monitoring Council Coordinator for new monitoring meters or get old meters calibrated.

To register and for more information,

please contact Veronica Tangiri (Prince William) or Ashley Palmer (Fairfax)

99th Green Breakfast, July 13th

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Brion’s Grille
10621 Braddock Rd, Fairfax, VA 22032
Saturday, 13 July 2019
Breakfast begins at 8:30 am
$10 at the door, cash preferred
No prior registration required.

A Look Back: 20 Years with the Soil and Water Conservation District
Asad Rouhi, Ph.D.
Urban Conservation Engineer, Northern Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District

As he ends his tenure with the Northern Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District and looks forward to retirement at the end of July, Dr. Rouhi joins us to share his wit and wisdom after more than 20 years of service with the district.

Breakfast includes an all-you-can eat hot buffet with fresh fruit and coffee, tea, orange juice or water. No prior registration required. If you have any questions, please contact the Northern Virginia Soil and Water at conservationdistrict@fairfaxcounty.gov.

Rain Barrel Workshop, June 15th

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Fairlington Community Center
3308 S. Stafford St., Arlington VA
Saturday, 15 June 2019
10am – 12pm

Rain barrels purchased from retail sources can be expensive. As part of a regional initiative, Northern Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District offers build-your-own rain barrel workshops and distributes low-cost rain barrels to Fairfax County citizens. You will learn how to install and maintain a rain barrel and take one home! By installing a rain barrel at your home you will provide your plants with water they will love, save money and water, and protect the Chesapeake Bay! The workshop is free to attend and learn more about rain barrels, and building a rain barrel for you to take home is $55. Learn more about the program and register to attend this workshop.

NVSWCD recognizes Plant NoVA Natives Campaign Partners as 2018 Cooperator of the Year

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(Republished from the Northern Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District site)

Established in 2011, the Plant NOVA Natives initiative has been key in increasing awareness of native plants across Northern Virginia and working across non-profit, government, and industry sectors to promote the use of natives in landscapes.  The work of the campaign partners greatly supports the initiatives of the Northern Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District (NVSWCD).  Information is sought between agencies to share common messages and lift each other’s programs.

For example, in spring 2018, the Plant NOVA Natives group purchased advertisements (pay for clicks) on social media platforms that promoted the use of native plants and linked to NVSWCD’s Seedling Sale webpage.  In total, the partners spent roughly $100 to promote the sale.  This drove many new customers to purchase seedlings, rain barrels, or composters during the sale, benefitting NVSWCD environmental education programs.

In addition, campaign partners post blog and Facebook items about the Virginia Conservation Assistance Program and the benefits the program provides for water quality through the addition of native plants as Conservation Landscapes.  Through their efforts, the Native Plants for Northern Virginia guidebook has become the definitive resource for highlighting the most common native plants in our region.  The campaign has renewed the interest in the utility of native plants throughout the landscaping community and many retail establishments have improved native plant visibility since the campaign began.  The campaign’s website is a clearinghouse and wealth of regionally-specific information, resources, and events.

There is no doubt that this campaign has contributed significantly to bringing groups together and elevating the shared interest in the use of native plants across many different landscapes.  The program is truly a partnership, by which the work of several agencies outweighs the work of one.  It is for these reasons and many more, that we recognize the Plant NOVA Natives Campaign partners as our 2018 Cooperator of the Year awardees.

The Cooperator of the Year award is named in honor of Diane Hoffman, an Associate Director with NVSWCD and the former NVSWCD District Administrator, for the legacy of cooperative spirit that she instilled throughout all District programs.

Visit https://www.plantnovanatives.org for more information about partnership, find native plant sales, and to peruse the wonderful resources they provide.

NVSWD’s Sustainable Garden Tour, June 9

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One of the Northern Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District’s most exciting gardening events of the summer is coming up in just one month, on Sunday, June 9! The Sustainable Garden Tour allows folks from all around Fairfax County to show off their innovative and sustainable gardens to interested visitors.

This year’s Sustainable Garden Tour features nine sites throughout the Vienna/Oakton area. Each  of these gardens boasts an array of native plantings, provides habitat to key pollinators, works to mitigate drainage or erosion issues, and helps these homeowners and community members reduce their environmental footprint.

Please join the community on June 9, from 1-5 pm, as we tour these nine gorgeous gardens. Here is a general interest flier, a set of directions to, and a brief description of each site.

BTW The NVSWD team could use some help staffing the tour. Reach out to Benjamin Rhoades (benjamin.rhoades@fairfaxcounty.gov) or Ashley Palmer (Ashley.palmer@fairfaxcounty.gov) if you can volunteer or have any questions.

Please share this information around your organization, office, or on your website.

If we work together, we can be a true force for nature

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Cathy Ledec

If variety really is the spice of life, my work with Fairfax Master Naturalists is a tasty dish indeed. I engage with many projects throughout the year: as the president of the Friends of Huntley Meadows Park, the chair of the Fairfax County Tree Commission, as an Invasive Management Area site leader and Resource Management Volunteer for the Fairfax County Park Authority, Audubon-at-Home Ambassador, and as President of the Pavilions at Huntington Metro Community Association.

Mt. Vernon Government Center before our project

One of the most rewarding projects has been establishing a Natural Landscaping Demonstration project at the Mount Vernon Governmental Center, in Alexandria, Virginia. I attend meetings at this Fairfax County building frequently, and observed that the landscaping around the building had no variety, included mostly turf grass, and lacked blooming plants. The center needed some TLC! When I mentioned my observations and thoughts to Mount Vernon District Supervisor Dan Storck, he was enthusiastic. So I marshaled resources and my network and went to work.

Next steps towards implementation included preparing a planting plan, with drawings of the landscaping beds; and researching and preparing plant lists. I consulted with fellow Fairfax Master Naturalist (FMN) Betsy Martin, who is also an Audubon-at-Home Ambassador and very knowledgeable about native plants. Betsy provided great guidance on low-impact ways to establish the mulched planting beds. These methods included covering the large areas of turf grass with cardboard or newspaper and covering with 3-4 inches of mulch. 

Betsy Martin and George Ledec deep in the mulch

We established the first planting bed in November 2017, with one of Betsy’s friends donating of a huge load of mulch. Consulting with technical experts from the Northern Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District and Earth Sangha was especially important to the research and writing that resulted in our receiving two grants from these organizations for this project. (The grant writing process was fast, only taking a few months).  

Someone said to me once, “If you don’t plan, plan to fail.” So plan I did! The first planting event was in early April 2018. At the same time that I was planning for the planting, I started pursuing the needed permissions from the Fairfax County Facilities Management Division (FMD). This process was more challenging than I expected, but I kept the end goal in mind and eventually signed off on the needed Memorandum of Understanding with FMD. I knew that once this was signed, it would pave the way for future projects of this type for my fellow FMNers.

The goals of this project were to restore and improve environmental conditions. Converting turf grass areas to mulched planting beds would result in:

  1. Improved stormwater management
  2. Reduced urban heat island effect
  3. Restoration of wildlife habitat
  4. Improved visual appearance of the building
  5. Trees planted to shade the building, reduce summer cooling costs, provide natural privacy screen for staff working inside, and improve the view to the outside for staff working inside

Anticipating questions from the visiting public, I also prepared outreach materials on the project that could be shared with interested visitors.   

Concurrently, I was also contacted during the planning phase by a scout leader looking for an outdoor project for his scouts—what great luck!—and an excellent project for this scout troop and their families. This serendipity brought in more than 90 volunteers to establish the planting beds and the spring planting. The scouts dug holes, planted trees, moved mulch, and completed their work in one weekend. Volunteers rock! Thanks to FMNer Patti Swain for her help guiding the scouts.  

FMNers Maryann Fox and Chris Straub

We did a second planting in the fall of 2018, with thanks to FMNers Christine Straub and Maryann Fox, who helped with weeding and the fall planting. Special thanks to Supervisor Storck and his wife Deb for their help with the planting. Supervisor Storck’s support for this project was key to our success. 

We planted over a dozen tree seedlings and more than 100 native plants. There will be continuing need for maintenance, so you’ve not heard the last on this project. You, too, can join with us on our next maintenance day (I’ll send out a note and put it on the calendar), and record service hours to Stewardship project S256.

Blooming New England Aster with bumble bee in Summer 2018

This past April, I was honored for my work improving our environment with the 2018 Fairfax County Citizen of the Year award, both a humbling and thrilling recognition.

It remains very rewarding to watch the landscape our little team built fill in, bloom, and attract the birds and the bees. Every time I go by, there is a new flower blooming, with bees in attendance.

 

Rain Barrel Workshops, 18 & 25 May

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Walker Nature Center, 11450 Glade Dr., Reston VA
Saturday, 18 May 2019
10:30 am-12:30 pm

Ellanor C. Lawrence Park, 5040 Walney Rd.,
Saturday, 25 May 2019
10 am-12 pm

Rain barrels purchased from retail sources can be expensive. As part of a regional initiative, Northern Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District offers build-your-own rain barrel workshops and distributes low-cost rain barrels to Fairfax County citizens. You will learn how to install and maintain a rain barrel and take one home! By installing a rain barrel at your home you will provide your plants with water they will love, save money and water, and protect the Chesapeake Bay! The workshop fee is $55, which includes the rain barrel for you to take home. Learn more about the program and register to attend a workshop.

Green Breakfast, May 11th

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Photo (c) by Barbara J. Saffir

Brion’s Grille
10621 Braddock Rd., Fairfax VA
Saturday, 11 May 2019
8:30 am

Thinking about the “wild” spaces in and around a busy metropolitan area can be difficult, but we are fortunate to have several wildlife refuges at our fingertips. How did these areas become protected and what’s next for the system? Patuxent Wildlife Refuge Manager Brad Knudsen will present “The Evolution of the National Wildlife Refuge System.” He will present information on the important wildlife resources the NWRS conserves, how the NWRS as grown in its 116 years, how legislation and public involvement have impacted the direction the NWRS has gone, and a glimpse at what the future holds.

Breakfast begins at 8:30am, $10 at the door, cash preferred. No prior registration required. Breakfast includes an all-you-can eat hot buffet with fresh fruit and coffee, tea, orange juice or water. If you have any questions, please contact the Northern Virginia Soil and Water at conservationdistrict@fairfaxcounty.gov.

Bull Run Stream Monitoring Session

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James S. Long Park, 4603 James Madison Hwy (Rt. 15) Haymarket, VA 20169 Parking: Old Library parking lot (first right past the horse field)
Sunday, 28 April 2019
12-2:30 pm

Join Elaine Wilson, one of the District’s pioneer/certified monitors and her team for a spring monitoring at this beautiful site in Catharpin Creek in the Gainesville area. This site has some outstanding critters that are unique only to this site. STEM kids are welcome. Spots are limited. For more information and RSVP, contact Elaine Wilson.