Saturday, April 4, 2009

CLEAN IT, LABEL IT, OWN IT!

It's our watershed. On the April 18th, we're cleaning it up. And then on April 25/26 we'll label it so everyone knows that we live in the Little Falls Watershed!
Please join us at one or both of these events.

Saturday, April 18: Creek Clean-ups and Garlic Mustard Challenge!
9:00 am to noon, rain or shine!
We will be cleaning the Little Falls Branch creek and Stream Valley Park all the way from the Dalecarlia Reservoir to the Bethesda Public Pool. The effort has also been expanded to remove the invasive weed 'garlic mustard' in the parkland, so experienced weed warriors and new volunteers welcome!

Sign-in stations include:
  • Little Falls Park in Westmoreland - 3 stream side stations (Little Falls Parkway and Massachusetts; Elliott Road Park trail entrance; Albemarle Street entrance)
  • Glen Cove/Green Acres - 2 stream side stations (gravel turnout on Little Falls Parkway between River and Mass Ave; and Little Falls Drive at Wakefield Road by footbridge to Westbrook Elementary School playground.)
  • Town of Somerset - station at the Somerset Pool, Falstone Avenue and Warwick Place.
  • Bethesda Public Pool - station at the Bethesda Pool located at Little Falls Parkway and Hillandale Avenue.
Volunteers stationed at all trail entrances to the park will hand out work gloves and trash bags. Bring boots and long pants and sleeves recommended.

Children under 15 must be supervised by an adult. Middle and High School students who check in will earn SSL credits from the Montgomery County Parks Department.
This cleanup is supported through volunteers and funding by the Westmoreland Hills Garden Club, the Westbrook Elementary AquaEagles and EcoDefenders, the Town of Somerset, the Westmoreland Citizens Association, the Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commisssion, the Alice Ferguson Foundation, Bethesda Green, and the Little Falls Watershed Alliance.

Contact cleanup@lfwa.org for more information.

April 25/25: Label the Watershed!
April 25 - Bethesda Library, 1:00 - 3:00
April 26 - Bethesda Pool Parking Lot, 11:00 - 5:00
For the first time ever in Watershed history we will attempt to label all the storm drains using only volunteer labor! We have raffle tickets and t-shirts and great prizes. We have labels and instructions. All we need are volunteers to make this happen! Volunteers will be sent out in teams of three to five people and will label 5 to 10 storm drains. We hope to have people preregister, but if you just show up at either location, we will have lots for you to do! Contact Sarah at stormwater@lfwa.org to register your team or volunteer to help with running the event.

We are lucky to have many sponsors and partners in this event -
Thank you to Cheaseapeake Bay Trust for partial funding, partners Bethesda Green, Friends of the Bethesda Library and the DC and Montgomery County governments.

Our sponsors include American Plant, macUpgrades, DAI, Giant Food, Planet Cotton, Advanced Energy Dynamics, and Press, Potter & Dozier, LLC. Raffle donors include Strosniders, macUpgrades, Mamma Lucias, Austin Grill, Ledo Pizza, Lord and Taylor, Tickled Pink, Aveda, Wild Bird Center, Safeway, All Fired Up, Cosi Restaurant, Lilit Cafe, Wow Cow, and Bethesda Magazine. Thank you to Honest Tea for in-kind donations.

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