ISO Stewards

An important facet of a group like Little Falls Watershed Alliance, Inc., is having a brigade of volunteers called Stewards who walk the parks and act as the eyes and ears for the Little Falls Stream Valley Park and the tributaries flowing into the Little Falls Branch or Minnehaha Branch. If anything is amiss, Stewards alert the proper authorities. If they choose, they also would handle oversight, leadership and hands-on work for their section. The ideal Steward is one who spends time outside in the park such as dog walkers, hikers, bikers and cares about its health.

On October 30, at 7:30 pm, there will be a brainstorming meeting about organizing these volunteers. If you are interested in coming to this meeting, please RSVP to Suzanne Richmond, info@lfwa.org , The meeting will be at her house, 4712 Overbrook Road, Brookdale. And, if you can't make the meeting, but have ideas, please email Suzanne. She's happy to hear from everyone.

Until we get the steward program going (and after for that manner!), anyone who sees something amiss in the watershed is encouraged to call the proper authorities. Below is a list of people to call. Thank you to Alice Mayio for compiling them.

Montgomery County Department of Environmental Protection

Report water quality problems such as odors, oil, sediment – 240-777-7770 or 240-777-7700. After working hours, your call will go to a hotline.

Report sediment runoff from a construction project – 240-777-6259 (County sediment control/permitting services)

Report blocked drains, overload of winter sand or salt, other road-related problems – 240-777-6000 (Department of Public Works and Transportation)

Report illegal dumping (e.g. trash, construction materials) on county land -- 240-777-DUMP

Report drainage from a neighbor’s property --240-777-3785 – (Housing code enforcement)

Online, you can send an email to the county describing the problem to askDEP@montgomerycountymd.gov or go to

http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/deptmpl.asp?url=/content/dep/eforms/home.asp to fill out a complaint form (click on water quality)

Maryland Department of the Environment

Call 1-800-633-6101 during the hours of 8 am – 5 pm, M-F), 1-866-633-4686 after hours and on weekends

Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission

Report water leaks, sewer overflows, sediment runoff as a result of WSSC activities --

301-206-4002 (WSSC emergency 24-hour number)

Park Police

Report suspicious or unsafe activity in the stream valley park – 301-949-3010 (Emergency)

Free the Trees!

Believe it or not, there are trees under there! About 15 of us were out last Friday morning working on the Little Falls Trail clearing out the porcelain berry and other vines and the good news it that we found trees - alive and happy to be freed from the weight of the vines. As we cut the vines back, sunlight streamed into the area, prompting one volunteer to exclaim - "I can just hear the tree expressing gratitude for the warm sun on its bark." For some of these trees, it's the first time in years that they have had the sun on their trunks.

For those of you who have never done invasive weed control before, we cut a window in the vines - cutting as high as we can reach and then again at the ground. The vines are left in the trees where they will die. We also leave the cut pieces on the ground to decompose. It's hard work and it can take two hours or more for one person to free just one tree. So it was great to see so many people there. Thank you especially to the Sidwell Friends Upper School students who came as part of their community service day. And thank you to our invasive weed control coordinator, Lynnwood.

If you have a group that would like to do a project, contact her at plants@lfwa.org. You don't even need to bring clippers - she has a group set! Lynnwood also leads a group in the Little Falls Stream Valley every second and fourth Saturday at 8:00. Contact her for more information.

Here are some pictures of the freed trees!

National Academy of Science Says EPA Stormwater Policy Needs Complete Overhaul

Well, this just came in - National Academy of Science's report on the EPA's stormwater program.  It says it's in total need of an overhaul!  Who knew!

I love their description of stormwater runoff:
"the toxic brew of oil, fertilizers and trash picked up by rain and snowmelt as the water flows over parking lots, roofs and subdivisions."
I'll have to use it on my next creek walk.  The report also highlights one of my favorite points - it's not what's in the water that's always bad but the volume and velocity of the water.  In the Little Falls Branch, the water is actually not bad, but the stormwater runoff creates little tsunamis that wipe out anything trying to live there, not to mention causes so much erosion and silting that we have habitat loss right here.  You don't need to go to the rain forest or north pole to witness.

I've pasted the first paragraph of the press release below.  If you want a copy of the whole report, you can get it at the National Academy of Science website http://www.nationalacademies.org/morenews/20081015.html
You can download the whole thing!  I'm sure it's interesting reading.

By the way, Diane Cameron from the Montgomery County Stormwater Partnership (just one of her many hats) is going to talk to us on November 12 at 7:30 about what we can do to control stormwater runoff.  (See events listing on the right for details).  There's a lot regular residents can do and money from the county too, so mark your calendars!
Publish Post
Sarah Morse
Stormwater Chair

EPA's Stormwater Program Needs a Significant Overhaul

To Improve its Effectiveness and the Quality of Urban Streams

WASHINGTON -- Radical changes to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's stormwater program are necessary to reverse degradation of fresh water resources and ensure progress toward the Clean Water Act's goal of "fishable and swimmable" waters, says a new report from the National Research Council. Increased water volume and pollutants from stormwater have degraded water quality and habitats in virtually every urban stream system. To provide meaningful regulation, all stormwater and other wastewater discharge permits should be based on watershed boundaries instead of political boundaries. Moreover, the program should integrate stormwater management and land management practices, and focus less on chemical pollutants in the stormwater and more on the increased flow of water.

Welcome to Little Falls Watershed Alliance

Greetings,
We finally have a stewardship group for the Little Falls Watershed. We have a board of directors, we have committees, we have applied for non-profit status, we have a list serv and now we have a blog! It's very exciting and we invite you to join us.

Here's a map of the watershed. The main creeks are Little Falls Branch, Willet Branch and Minnehaha Branch in North Bethesda. Jennifer Run also comes into the Little Falls Branch. As you can see, we are bordered by Cabin John and Rock Creek Watersheds.

You can join our list serv by emailing Suzanne at info@LFWA.org. She's our president and she'll sign you up!

For more information, email Suzanne too. We can get you set-up clearing invasive weeds (every other Saturday at the Little Falls Stream Valley Park) or picking up trash - both by the creek or on the roads. You could also join us as a creek steward, or join a committee.