Here's a neat tool from the EPA to calculate how much rain water is running off your yard and into the creek.  http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/wswrd/wq/models/swc/

As you may know, the biggest threat to our creek (and the Bay for that matter) is the volume and velocity of water entering the creek whenever it rains.  Water isn't soaked into the ground by trees or landscaping,  runs directly into the creek.  The big volume erodes the stream bed and covers the rocks and hiding places for fish and water creatures with dirt.  The water also carries pollutants into the creek which make their way into the Bay.  Anything you can do to keep the water on your property will go a long way to helping the environment.  The EPA tool is a wonderful help in showing you how much water is running off. 

For information about what you can do to help get the water back in the ground, in Montgomery County visit - www.rainscapes.org.  In DC, visit http://ddoe.dc.gov/riversmarthomes   Both DC and the County have a nice rebate programs for implementing some very simple landscaping changes. 

For information on how much rainwater a tree can soak up, visit http://www.treebenefits.com/calculator/  

Sarah Morse
Co-President
Little Falls Watershed Alliance

Bag Bill needs our Testimony

Vote NO on Bill 10-13. 

Sign up to testify against Bill 10-13 on June 18 by calling 240-777-7803.  If you can't make it June 18, call or write your Councilmember today.  Click HERE for contact information.

Protect Montgomery’s Bag Law!

In 2012, all Montgomery County stores began charging a nickel for disposable plastic and paper bags distributed at checkout, in order to reduce litter by encouraging shoppers to use reusable bags.

Is it working? Yes!  It's good for businesses and good for the environment!

- Fewer plastic bags are being found in County streams during cleanups and in regular monitoring.

- Grocery stores report customers are using 70% fewer disposable bags since the fee took effect.

The County Council is considering weakening the law. Why?

Some Councilmembers have expressed concern that shoppers don’t take reusable bags to the mall, and that paying for a bag in those stores is burdensome.  We say - a nickel for the environment is not too much to pay for a cleaner watershed.  What is burdensome is having to pick these bags out of the creek!

What would the amendment (Bill 10-13) do?

- Plastic and paper bags from carry-outs would be exempt from the fee.  These are the bags we find in our creek!

- Department stores and other non-food stores would also be exempt.

.

How can I oppose this amendment?

Councilmembers are only hearing from a few unhappy residents, and not many supportive residents. (It’s human nature to speak up when you don’t like something!) The best thing you can do now is call or email your Councilmembers (contact info is HERE.).

Use the following talking points in your message:

1. Thank you for passing the bag fee legislation, ensuring that Montgomery County continues to lead the way for environmental change.
2. The bag fee has been very helpful in reminding me to bring reusable bags to all the stores that I shop in, including department stores (hardware store, boutiques, etc).
3. Even when I forget my bag and I choose to buy one, I don’t mind because I know that the money will go to support environmental projects.
4. Many of the department stores I shop in even sell reusable bags, showing that they support their customers changing their behavior and using less disposable bags.
5. I’m also thrilled to see my friends and neighbors refusing the unnecessary disposable bags at the store. (This is a great place to share personal anecdotes from your shopping experiences)
6. And the intent of the legislation, to reduce litter, has been successful. We are seeing less plastic bags in our communities and waterways.

Please also join us for the public hearing on Tuesday, June 18, at 7:30 pm.

Sign up to testify by calling 240-777-7803.

Thank you to Trash Free Maryland Alliance for these excellent talking points.   For more information, please visit www.TrashFreeMaryland.org.

With everyone's help, Montgomery County can continue to uphold its national reputation of strong environmental leadership!   Let's flex our political muscle!  Environmentalists vote too.

Bag Bill in Jepardy

“Would you like a bag?”  Simple words, big impact.  

 Just asking people to decide if they really need that bag is having a big environmental impact.   By imposing small five cent fee on all bags, Montgomery County has managed to decrease the number of bags in the trash stream by thousands.   The environment wins, small business save money and the County saves on clean-up costs.

Now, the County is considering legislation to weaken the bill and make carry outs, delis and non-food stores exempt from the fee, putting thousands of bags back into the trash stream and into our creek.

They say that they are hearing from too many people that five cents is too much to pay for a bag and that bags should be free.  Well, five cents for a bag is actually a bargain if you consider that nothing costs a nickle any more.  For just a dollar, or less than a cup of coffee,  you can buy 20 bags.  For the price of a small latte at Starbucks, you can buy 60 bags.  But that's not really the point of the Bill - it's to get people to think about the environment when they take a bag.  The five cent fee makes them stop and consider - Do they really need a bag?  Do they really need to add more trash to the environment? 

Just asking people to stop and think works.  The number of bags distributed has declined dramatically.  Businesses are saving money by not having to give away bags and the environment is winning.  Our fragile area, the Potomac, the Cheseapeake Bay need all the help they can get.  It may seem like baby steps, but these small efforts will add up to clean water and a clean bay. 

Please contact the County Council and ask them to vote for a clean environment and against Bill 10-13. 

Phil Andrews        240-777-7906      councilmember.andrews@montgomerycountymd.gov

Roger Berliner      240-777-7828      councilmember.berliner@montgomerycountymd.gov

Marc Elrich           240-777-7966      councilmember.elrich@montgomerycountymd.gov

Valerie Ervin         240-777-7960      councilmember.ervin@montgomerycountymd.gov

Nancy Floreen       240-777-7959     councilmember.floreen@montgomerycountymd.gov

George Leventhal  240-777-7811     councilmember.leventhal@montgomerycountymd.gov

Nancy Navarro      240-777-7968     councilmember.navarro@montgomerycountymd.gov

Craig Rice             240-777-7955     councilmember.rice@montgomerycountymd.gov

Hans Riemer         240-777-7964     councilmember.riemer@montgomerycountymd.gov

Up Date on Ten Mile Creek

Dear Friends of Ten Mile Creek,

The Montgomery County Planning Department held a Community Meeting on the Ten Mile Creek Master Plan Amendment on Monday night, 2/25/13.  

Below is my summary of this meeting, with short highlights followed by more details.

Short Highlights

* Attendance was robust -- and included close to a hundred citizens.  Many were from Clarksburg and also from around the county who support protecting Ten Mile Creek and its watershed.  We estimated that roughly half of these folks were inspired by our action alerts to turn out - including the alerts sent by ANS and MCA to all of their members.

* Topics presented by the staff and their consultants included the uniquely high quality of Ten Mile Creek and its watershed.  Planners Valdis Lazdins and Mary Dolan presented the 1994 Master Plan amendment elements, and Biohabitats consultant Jennifer Zeilinski described the existing watershed, habitat and water quality biological conditions.  

* Planner Val Lazdins said that the 1994 Clarksburg Master Plan for Ten Mile Creek (Stage 4) "is our starting point; based on the outcome of that analysis, do we go up or down in terms of building densities, land uses, and distribution of development?  We'll have to see based on that initial analysis."

* Responses from the audience to the focus on the 1994 Clarksburg Master Plan, and to the prospect of reliance on experimental ESD stormwater management technologies for such a high-quality, sensitive stream, ranged from skeptical - to downright upset- with the apparent focus on the buildout scenario of the 1994 Clarksburg Master Plan and reliance on unproven ESD mitigation measures (though Planning Staff Director Rose Krasnow later told me there would be 2 additional scenarios).

* The timeline for this Master Plan amendment is on a fast track, with a March 14th Planning Board session coming up soon.

More Details

Attendees included two ANS Board members - Mike Gravitz and Patty O'Malley - , and four ANS staffers - Debra Prybyla, Cathy Wiss, Dolores Milmoe and Diane Cameron.  To list just a sampling of other ANS members and MCA activists:  - several ANS Water Quality Monitors attended, including Ed Pfister,  volunteers Becky Cromwell and Adrienne Nicosia.  

Our partners, Caroline Taylor of Montgomery Countryside Alliance, and Paul Hlavinka of Muddy Branch Alliance were there, along with Ann Smith, leader of the Seneca Creek Alliance, Jim Hall, Ellen Pearl and Johnny Haney. DEP Senior Biologist Keith Van Ness and Planner Mark Symborski, both of whom contributed to the scientific information, were there.

Councilmember Craig Rice, and Claire Iseli of Councilmember Elrich's office attended.  Botanist John Parrish was also there. (About 5 developer reps attended, including Bob Kaufmann, Bob Harris and Jim Soltesz.)

Topics presented by the staff and their consultants included the uniquely high quality of Ten Mile Creek and its watershed.  Planners Valdis Lazdins and Mary Dolan presented the 1994 Master Plan amendment elements, and Biohabitats consultant Jennifer Zeilinski described the existing watershed, habitat and water quality biological conditions.  

* Ten Mile Creek watershed land cover was reported to be at present 46% forested and 4% impervious. 

* The "steep slopes, shallow bedrock, and erodible soils" were noted, along with the high biological quality of Ten Mile Creek (though to my taste it was featured in a somewhat general way).

*  In response to a question, Ms. Zeilinski said that the ANS water quality monitoring data, along with that of DEP, was incorporated into the existing conditions report. 

* The watershed's Interior Forest plays an important role in connecting the woodlands of Little Bennett Regional Park to those of Black Hills Regional Park - a "connector of two biological hubs."  (We credit John Parrish and the late Bob DeGroot for teaching us the need for interior forest connectedness.)

The consultant then focused on the new stormwater management mandate in Maryland-  Environmental Site Design - and how these ESD practices such as rain gardens and permeable pavements (along with buffers) could be used to mitigate the stormwater runoff from any future developments in Ten Mile Creek.  

Planner Val Lazdins said that the 1994 Clarksburg Master Plan for Ten Mile Creek (Stage 4) "is our starting point; based on the outcome of that analysis, do we go up or down in terms of building densities, land uses, and distribution of development?  We'll have to see based on that initial analysis."

Responses from the audience to the focus on the 1994 Clarksburg Master Plan, and to the prospect of reliance on experimental ESD stormwater management technologies for such a high-quality, sensitive stream, ranged from skeptical - to downright upset- with the apparent focus on the buildout scenario of the 1994 Clarksburg Master Plan to be mitigated with stormwater engineering practices that are unproven to protect high quality streams (though Planning Staff Director Rose Krasnow later told me there would be 2 additional scenarios).  Several questions during the public session elicited an acknowledgement from Valdis Lazdins, and the consultant Jennifer Zeilinski, that no high-quality, sensitive stream and its watershed have been documented elsewhere to have been protected from large development impacts, through reliance on these ESD-type practices such as rain gardens and permeable pavements.  

Several people logically asked when the meeting broke up, "If all they are going to do is affirm the 94 Master Plan, then there's no point to this effort and they are wasting the public's resources doing this Amendment."  

Melane Hoffman of Clarksburg asked about traffic issues (but the answer wasn't very revealing.)  During the public Q&A, ANS Board member Mike Gravitz commented that the County was proposing to "...experiment with unproven stormwater technologies in our last, best creek...this doesn't make any sense." Several other citizens made similarly skeptical comments.  Caroline Taylor asked whether they were looking at groundwater impacts of future developments (the answer was yes,) and I asked whether biological water quality endpoints were going to be modeled (in addition to pollutant loads), whether land cover conditions of imperviousness, construction and forest cover were going to be studied, along with consideration of limits on imperviousness, and Mary Dolan answered Yes to all of my questions.

When the meeting broke up, I asked Planning staff director Rose Krasnow whether additional scenarios beyond the 94 Clarksburg Master Plan were going to be fully studied, since the presentations left us wondering -- to put it mildly -- and she said definitely yes - that there would be two additional development/ creek protection scenarios beyond the baseline scenario of "The 94 Master Plan plus stormwater managment." 

The timeline for this Master Plan amendment is on a fast track, with a March 14th Planning Board session coming up soon.

We will keep you posted on our further responses to what we've learned -- and will share with you additional ways to be active to protect our County's Last, Best Creek.

We are working to hone our message on how to effectively protect Ten Mile Creek -- while allowing some further development in its watershed.

- Diane

Diane Cameron

Conservation Director

Audubon Naturalist Society

Ten Mile Creek needs your voice!

You can help to save Montgomery's Last, Best Creek through sound Land Use Planning:

Community Input Meeting on Ten Mile Creek

Feb. 25th, 7:30 pm

Rocky Hill M.S. in Clarksburg

Sponsored by the Montgomery County Planning Department

RSVPs to Diane Cameron:  dianecameron60@gmail.com

ANS volunteers, led by Cathy Wiss, have been monitoring Ten Mile Creek in Clarksburg for 15 years, and they find an aquatic life community there that is uniquely diverse in Montgomery County.  But fragile, sensitive Ten Mile Creek is under threat from multiple large commercial and residential developments.

Your actions helped to give Ten Mile Creek a fighting chance last year - when we won placement in the Planning Dept's work plan, of a Limited Master Plan Amendment for Ten Mile Creek - enabling Montgomery's planners to study the watershed and to recommend to the Planning Bd. and Council, the best land use planning controls to protect the Creek. But the creek isn't protected yet - Click  HERE for a map by Dolores Milmoe showing the developments threatening the health of this fragile resource.

The Creek will have the best chance to be protected if you raise your voice again this year to ensure a sound, enforceable land use plan for the entire Ten Mile Creek watershed.

 Your voice is needed to help save Ten Mile Creek -- through sound land use planning that will establish and enforce: Science-based + limits on imperviousness and construction, and + minimum levels of forest cover.

Please come to this event on Feb. 25th and speak out in favor of protecting Ten Mile Creek.  Along with our partners in this campaign, including leading partner Montgomery Countryside Alliance, we are inviting people ages 8 to 80 to come out and speak for this irreplaceable resource -- part of our drinking water supply.

RSVPs to Diane Cameron:  dianecameron60@gmail.com 

More information at the Planning Department and ANS websites.

Here's a video on Ten Mile Creek made by Blair H.S. Senior Danny Rosenberg.

--

Diane M. Cameron

Conservation Program Director

Audubon Naturalist Society

(301) 652-9188       x22

dianecameron60@gmail.com

Fight for the Green Mile Continues

Great turn out Monday night by citizens who voiced their support for the Green Mile.  It was clear from the standing room only crowd who attended the Monday night meeting with the State Highway Administration that there are many concerns over the proposed sidewalk.  Comments ranged from "Is there a demonstrated need?" to "The impact on the stream and bay will be tremendous."

Primary Support Came from WABA
Supporting comments came mainly from the Washington Area Bike Association who are looking forward to using the sidewalk as a commuting route.  Several people questioned whether bikers and pedestrians were compatible on an 8 foot wide trail.

State Reluctant to Commit to Crosswalks or Light
Also supporting the project were representatives from Chevy Chase West who were hopeful that once a sidewalk was installed, crosswalks from the west side to the bus stops on the east side would come.  The State traffic engineer was very reluctant to say that was likely.  They do not like to put crosswalks in where there are no four way intersection as they consider them as dangerous, if not more dangerous, than no crosswalks.She said that maybe if a pedestrian and bus use study indicated a high enough pedestrian count, the State might consider a mid-block light.   But she stressed that since people do not like to walk more than 500 feet to get to a light, it would probably require consolidating all of the bus stops to one.  The other State engineer said the Ride-on bus guidelines require the stops to be spaced out along Wisconsin Avenue so consolidating was not an option.

Graphic Notes of the meeting thanks to Barb Siegel.   

Bethesda Patch, BethesdaNow.com and the Gazette all covered the meeting.  Read their articles on our website by clicking HERE.

We will continue to pursue this issue.  If you would like to join the committee that has been working on it, please email me at stormwater@lfwa.org.  We are currently looking into funding issues and demonstrated need.

Thank you to all who came out to support the Green Mile.  Visit our website for latest news and keep putting pressure on public officials.  We need trees on Wisconsin Avenue!
Sarah Morse

Why are All the Trees Marked?

You may have noticed red, blue and red and white stripped ribbons marking trees and shrubs along the Hiker/Biker trail in the Little Falls Stream Valley Park.

These ribbons are part of a survey by the WSSC in preparation for a large sewer rehabilitation project for the Little Falls Basin.

From the Project Engineers (O'Brien and Gere)

 Colored Tags. - (Tags do NOT necessarily indicate removal.)

•  Red/white stripped denote specimen trees that must be replaced in-kind if removed.
• Red markings basically indicate the limits of disturbance.  This designation is not to be taken literally, but rather indicated the access path that the contractors may need to perform their work.
• Blue markings indicate the top of bank for a stream corridor.

Community Presentation:

We will be prepared to present project maps at the community outreach event currently being planned for late January.  In the meantime, WSSC has a web application HERE that provides the location of specific manholes and pipelines to be rehabilitated throughout the service area.

Little Falls Watershed Alliance will keep you up to date as we get information.  Watch our website for details.