by Jim Hurley
Join our friends from the City of Falls Church on Sunday, March 30, 10 am-12 noon, as they begin work to restore the natural area along the W&OD Trail between Grove Ave. and N. Oak St., only a block from where the trail crosses the bridge over Broad St. There are large thickets of Porcelainberry and other invasive vines along the bike path, which in its current state serves as an effective migration route for these plants up and down the trail, and into many of our parks arrayed along Four Mile Run.
Porcelainberry
Ampelopsis brevipedunculata
Origin: China, Korea, Japan and Russia
Photos by Jil Swearingen, NPS
In a trailblazing cooperative effort among the City of Falls Church Environmental Council Habitat Restoration Team, the Northern Virginia Regional Parks Authority, Dominion Power, volunteers, and naturalists, the invasive plants will be removed and the area landscaped with native plants and butterfly gardens. Similar work is already underway along the W&OD in Arlington at Bluemont Park with some 200 yards of invasives cleared last fall, preparing the way for a native meadow. Eventually, we’ll connect these two dots, and the three miles in between!
Organizers will provide tools and snacks. Please bring your own gloves.