There’s literally too much litter in Mount Vernon, say leaders of the Mount Vernon Council of Citizen Associations, and the county should adopt the Citizens’ Action Plan for Litter Prevention. At the initiative of the Council’s Environment and Recreation Committee, chaired by Elizabeth (Betsy) Martin, MVCCA is advocating a comprehensive strategy to combat litter and is asking the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors to act. The key components of the anti-litter plan are these: implement recycling in the public schools and encourage environmental stewardship among students; require all business…

With trees bare of leaves now, winter is an opportune time to spot woodpeckers.  The treed areas of Mount Vernon are frequented by several secies. Six woodpecker species can be seen in the Washington, DC area: Downy, Hairy, Red-bellied, Red-headed and Pileated, plus Northern Flicker. The Yellow-bellied Sapsucker is a winter visitor. Nature’s Drummers Woodpeckers have strong, chisel-like bills, specialized tail feathers and feet and barbed tongues, adaptations that allow them to fully exploit woodland habitats.  With their short legs and sharp claws, they can climb trees and peck for larvae, …

It’s a little dull grayish-brown bug that can devastate trees. The fall cankerworm (Alsophila pometaria) is “very prevalent” in the MountVernon, Huntington and Franconia areas, but not other parts of the Fairfax County, county urban forester Joan Allen recently said. No one knows why they are concentrated in the eastern part of the county at this time. This winter, county staffers are trying to determine whether fall cankerworm populations are reaching dangerous levels and where. In the past ten years, these insects have defoliated up to 5,000 acres in the Mount Vernon area.  (The spring …

This is the second of two articles on Dyke Marsh’s human history, based on a presentation by Matthew Virta to the 90 people who attended the Nov. 14 meeting of the Friends of Dyke Marsh. Virta is the Cultural Resources Program Manager for the George Washington Memorial Parkway, U.S. National Park Service.  The first article was posted on Monday. --- After the Civil War, rowdy activities like drinking, gambling and “amorous pursuits” that had been tolerated in wartime were driven underground or to the river, Virta explained, recreation that spawned the Potomac River ark boat or ark. Ostensibly…

This is the first of two articles on Dyke Marsh’s human history, based on a presentation by Matthew Virta to the 90 people who attended the Nov. 14 meeting of the Friends of Dyke Marsh. Virta is the Cultural Resources Program Manager for the George Washington Memorial Parkway, U.S. National Park Service. The second article will be posted on Wednesday. --- From diking to daunting escapades, from bootlegging to railroading,the Dyke Marsh Wildlife Preserve has had a fascinating human history. Dyke Marsh is a wooded, watery, green nature preserve along the parkway at the Potomac River’s edge to …

The Potomac River’s future presents “a troubling picture,” concludes the sixth annual report of the Potomac Conservancy.  “Too many stretches...are still too polluted to allow you to safely swim, boat, or fish, or to support healthy populations of fish and other aquatic life,” the study proclaims. Titled “Troubled Waters,” the report targets non-point pollution as the “root cause” of the degradation along 51 percent of impaired steams miles, while agricultural practices contribute 37 percent.  Unlike “point source” pollution discharged from a discrete site like a pipe, non-point pollution is …

After 18 years of worrying, planning, meeting, debating, designing and redesigning, the Fairfax County Park Authority (FCPA) will restore and stabilize Huntley Meadows Park’s central wetland, Huntley Meadows Park manager Kevin Munroe said on a recent walk in the park. Park officials will hold two public meetings to present restoration plans.Park managers and the contractor, Wetlands Studies and Solutions, will explain the proposed design and purposes. The “crown jewel” of the 1,500-acre park, according to many of its 200,000 annual visitors, is the 50-plus-acre, non-tidal wetland, the largest…

Chances are most northern Virginians did not slink around the woods to snag a wild turkey for the Thanksgiving table. Most people probably lugged a frozen 20-pounder or so from the grocery store to the car to the oven. Wild turkeys are closer than you might think. “Fairfax County has many flocks of wild turkeys,” says Jerry Sims, Terrestrial Program Manager, Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (DGIF), but no one knows the number. There may be 180,000 statewide. Where can you spot a turkey in the wild? Visitors to Mount Vernon Estate may see wild turkeys amble by, especially early…

The U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) Board of Geographic Names has given four unnamed islands in the Dyke Marsh Wildlife Preserve official names — Angel, Bird, Coconut and Dyke Island — rejecting suggestions from Rep. Jim Moran, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors and the Friends of Dyke Marsh (FODM). They had requested that the islands be named Osprey, Marsh Wren, Kingbird and Cormorant Islands. The USGS Board accepted names recommended by the scientists who prepared the 2010 study documenting the severe erosion occurring in Dyke Marsh and entered the new names into the Geographic Names …

As Hurricane Sandy churned up the East Coast Saturday, meteorologist Barry Sperling spotted a sunbow, a rainbow-like circle shimmering around the sun. “It’s a sign that it will rain within 12 hours,” he told the group on a fall colors walk in the Dyke Marsh Wildlife Preserve.  “Also called a ‘halo,’ the sunbow is the refraction of light through a cirrostratus cloud." Pat Salamone, a Friends of Dyke Marsh (FODM) board member, led 15 people on a two-hour morning foray along the Haul Road, the main pedestrian trail in the preserve, and pointed out the brilliant colors bursting out all around and…

Surburbia is a land of cul de sacs, colonials, split levels, grassy lawns, driveways, sidewalks and a few critters. Or maybe a lot of critters. Katie Busch is studying which wildlife species use which yards in several Northern Virginia communities for her George Mason University (GMU) master’s degree thesis. She is comparing 40 residential yards, 20 that are certified by the National Wildlife Federation as a wildlife habitat and 20 that are not certified.  She has sites in the Mount Vernon, Alexandria, Arlington, Great Falls, Herndon, Fairfax, Vienna and McLean areas. The targeted properties …

Seen a little zigzaggy orange and black critter fluttering by lately? An extraordinary migration is occurring in northern Virginia this month, as monarch butterflies (Danaus plexippus), wend their way to Mexico to join millions more and hang snugly together like little gray beards on oyamel fir trees at 9,000 to 11,000 feet all winter.  “This is one of the most extraordinary annual migrations on our planet,” says monarch expert Dr. Lincoln Brower of Sweet Briar College. “This amazing migration eludes explanation.” The monarch, weighing one-fifth the weight of a penny, is the only butterfly to…

Arborists, botanists, naturalists and other tree lovers often tout the ecological services of trees. They clean the air, absorb carbon dioxide and stem stormwater runoff and erosion. Trees also have social value, the 40 attendees at a Sept. 13 Alexandria forum learned when several experts spoke to the Northern Virginia Urban Forestry roundtable titled “Benefits of Urban Trees: Economic and Social.” Katrina Krause from the U.S. Forest Service offered examples of trees promoting community engagement. “We are an instant gratification society,” she said, and caring for trees can be a long-term …

“Fifty years ago the Potomac River was a national disgrace. It really smelled,” commented Hedrick Belin, president of the Potomac Conservancy in opening the “Romp on the River” at River Farm on Sept. 19. Much of the obvious pollution has been reduced, he contended. Nutrient pollution from agricultural operations has declined, but today, the more serious problem is that pollution is more diffuse and harder to see.  “It doesn’t smell,” he explained. Belin was referring to “nonpoint” pollution carried to the river in stormwater runoff from suburbia’s hard surfaces like roofs and parking lots and…

It may seem quiet outside these late summer nights, but there’s a lot going on in the skies. Millions of birds are migrating south day and night.  On Wednesday night, 75 people turned out to hear Alicia King of the U.S.Fish and Wildlife Service’s Migratory Bird Program offer insights into themysteries of bird migration. The program was sponsored by the Friends of Dyke Marsh and the Audubon Society of Northern Virginia. The Mount Vernon area is prime territory for the fall and spring migration because of the diversity of habitat, from wetlands to woodlands to the river. In mid-September, the …

Visitors to the 4-acre André Bleumel meadow at the American Horticultural Society at River Farm can quickly suffer from sensory overload. In late summer and early fall, busy, buzzing bees are sampling the fragrant mountain mint. Crows are cawing and titmice squeaking as bald eagles and hawks soar overhead. Yellow- and black-striped tiger swallowtail butterflies are nectaring on purple, white and magenta blossoms, as yellow black-eyed Susans burst up through 5-foot-tall grasses and wave their silky, golden “heads.” Even the black- and gray-speckled indigo seed pods exude beauty as they sway in…

On July 26, L.K. Thomas, research biologist, shared his comments and some of his academic work on Dyke Marsh Wildlife Preserve and its restoration. He began to study Dyke Marsh in 1959 and has published many papers on various aspects of this freshwater, tidal wetland. He has visited Dyke Marsh many times, including forays wearing hip boots and chest waders. Thomas began his career with the U.S. National Park Service as a ranger naturalist in 1953 and retired in 1998 as a resource management specialist. He has an extensive background in ecosystem ecology, hydrology, resource management, …

As area's heat index regularly exceeds 90 degrees, weather experts are telling us that the last year has been the warmest on record in the United States. Extreme weather events “of the recent past,” like heat waves and droughts, are caused by climate change, reported climate scientist James Hansen and several of his colleagues in an August 6 study. They maintain that in the last three decades, as the average temperature has risen, “the extremes have soared and now cover about 10 percent of the globe,” Hansen wrote in the Aug. 5 edition of the Washington Post. He is a scientist for the Goddard…

As Northern Virginians swelter through another hot, steamy summer,the Potomac River looks inviting. But it really may not be very welcoming. Although the water temperatures range from the mid- to high-80s, the river is risky for swimming, caution officials at the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin (ICPRB) because of bacteria levels in some places. Commission staffers say they cannot provide a definitive answer when asked if the river is safe for swimming and wading. At certain sites, ICPRB scientists conduct weekly tests for bacteria that can cause gastrointestinal illness and …

On most Thursday mornings along the Mount Vernon segment of the George Washington Memorial Parkway, or GMWP, local “weed warriors” whack and pull invasive or non-native plants. They are trying to control plants like English ivy, bamboo, bush honeysuckle and garlic mustard. The National Park Service estimates that many parks and nature preserves in Virginia typically have between 25 and 34 percent non-native plants. Non-native plants can be called “invasives,” “aliens,” “exotics” or “non-indigenous plants.” Generally, they are plants introduced both intentionally and accidentally into an area …