Cleaning the Bay Starts Here

by Jo Allen

Question: What is missing from upper course of Four Mile Run that flows through five contiguous parks that are managed by ARMN Park Stewards after “Clean the Bay Day” on May 2? 

Answer: An electric scooter, a pair of lawn chairs, two tarps, three tires, an iron grate, two heavy pipes, part of a large manhole cover, and several dozen large garbage bags full of plastic bags, extruded foam, cans, plastic bottles, and candy wrappers.

You may wonder: Who are ARMN Park Stewards? We are experienced volunteers in ecological restoration and conservation. We lead work in high priority natural areas in partnership with Arlington County and five other local jurisdictions.

Four Mile Run slowly collects debris that needs to be removed. This year, we timed our stream cleanup with the day designated by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation because we believe that cleaning the bay starts upstream, right here in our parks. We began our work about a block downstream from Fire Station 6 in Arlington, where Four Mile daylights from underground, and continued nearly two miles downstream. (See: Map showing stream area that the volunteers cleaned.)

Three dozen volunteers pulled junk from the stream in Isaac Crossman, Benjamin Banneker, and Madison Manor parks, and in Dominion Hills, a section stretching from Washington Street in Falls Church to Arlington Mill Drive at the northwest end of Bon Air Park. In the middle of the cleanup area, 15 volunteers from the First Church of Christ, Scientist pitched in with stream cleaning through East Falls Church Park.

All volunteers encountered eroded banks, and in Dominion Hills Park, Steward Noreen Hannigan temporarily disappeared into a jungle of thick, bamboo-like knotweed (Fallopia japonica syn. Polygonum cuspidatum), a non-native nuisance species that requires cutting in June and chemical treatment eight weeks later to eradicate. It is the tallest weed on top of banks along the W&OD Trail and crops up where Four Mile Run emerges from under I-66.

When Dominion Hills Steward Mikki Astatt spotted a single non-native incised fumewort (Corydalis incisa) plant that dared to grow on a Dominion Hills bank, she knew exactly what to do. She dug out this severe spreader and trashed it after noting it and its location on the https://www.inaturalist.org/ and reporting the species to Arlington Natural Resources Specialist Jennifer Soles as part of the EDRR invasive species management strategy.

Crossman Steward Amy Crumpton reported that five girl scouts gathered another non-native nuisance plant, garlic mustard (Alliaria petiolata), along the stream banks, and crew members from Quetzal Lawn & Landscape (Quetzal) pulled up bags of it downstream in Madison Manor Park.

As the volunteer teams met up under the Ohio Street bridge that divides Madison Manor from Dominion Hills, a white-tail deer (Odocoileus virginianus) sprinted past me and smacked into a bicyclist on the W&OD Trail, sending the bike rider tumbling into a patch of native deertongue grass (Dichanthelium clandestinum). The deer continued bounding over the stream at full speed. Steward Tami Dennis phoned 911 and two Arlington Fire Department EMTs arrived and examined the rider, but she declined transport to a hospital. The unusual accident surprised everyone. But once the bicyclist was walking, volunteers completed the cleanup. (See ARLnow story on the incident.).

Beavers (Castor canadensis) had dug tree bank dens (lodges on the side of the stream bank covered with mud, sticks, and rocks) in the downstream Dominion Hills section. The dens were discovered by Quetzal owner Victor Lopez, who wore waders to work in the deeper pools of Four Mile Run. He did not report seeing the animals themselves, but Noreen said these semiaquatic rodents have been active in the area.

Wearing waders, shorts, and rolled-up pant legs, other Quetzal crew members were able to reach areas that were too deep for volunteers in shoes or boots. “The three guys from Quetzal were awesome,” said Banneker Steward Kent Anderson of the crew that worked in his park and Crossman.

In East Falls Church Park, a volunteer in sneakers braved a steep bank, waded in, and aided by a friend and a multi-twigged stick, skimmed out debris that was caught in fallen branches near the bridge between the basketball court and playing field. “Such guts and resourcefulness,” said ARMN’s Janet Sasser, who helped organize the First Church of Christ, Scientist group that earned 10 stormwater utility credits for its 30.5 hours of volunteering.

In all, 51 volunteers, including ARMN members,12 crew members from Quetzal, 15 from the church, 5 girl scouts, and various neighbors contributed 157 hours of work to the stream clean up. Arlington Park Manager Robert Upton loaned trash grabbers and arranged for debris collection, and it was a successful—and memorable—day in and along Four Mile Run.

Plants identified during Four Mile Run cleanup: