CHEVY CHASE, MD – The Audubon Naturalist Society (ANS) today released its new report from the Conservation Department on the health of streams in our nation’s capital and it contains some good, bad, and, ugly news.
Titled Stream Health at Select Tributaries in Rock Creek in Washington, DC, the report, which covers nine years of monitoring at three Northwest DC neighborhood streams, found an abundance of aquatic life, from mayflies to salamanders, and even eels (which were an essential food source for Native American communities in our region and are now very rare). That’s the good.

But the report, authored by Water Quality Monitoring Program Coordinator Cathy Wiss, also found that health in all streams has declined to a “poor” state. Two of the three streams have stable communities of aquatic organisms, with one showing improvement over time. The third has declined in biological health, and all have lost diversity and numbers of aquatic organisms due to polluted runoff and leaks from underlying sanitary sewage pipes. The report’s conclusions are based on the data and observations supplied by the volunteers of ANS’s Water Quality Monitoring Program, one of the nation’s longest-running community science programs.

Jeanne Braha, Executive Director of Rock Creek Conservancy, said, “This sort of rich, long-term data is so helpful to identifying issues and priority areas as we work to restore Rock Creek and its parklands. We appreciate ANS’s partnership and the great work they do to help us better understand the Creek.”

Eliza Cava, Director of Conservation at ANS, said, “D.C. residents know and love Rock Creek Park. Yet this report helps make clear that the park and its streams are also home to small kingdoms of plants and animals that, literally, are our bffs – bffs with powers like the ability to clean waste, enrich soil, and warn us of dangers. Our friends do their magical work in the sunshine and darkness, hidden from the hurried and unaware among us. One way to express proper gratitude is to ensure that they can grow healthier and more abundant.”

ANS’s three monitoring sites include: (1) Pinehurst Branch, just upstream of Beach Drive NW (2) Melvin Haven Run in North Cleveland Park and (3) Normanstone Run at Normanstone Drive and 30th Street, NW. The monitoring teams visit the sites three to four times a year.

The Stream Health report concludes with four major recommendations to DC and federal government officials: (1) Monitor water quality more often (2) Add to the D.C. “species of greatest concern” list insects and other aquatic organisms that are becoming rare (3) Look for sources of polluted discharges into these streams (4) Manage stream restoration projects to prevent oils and road salt from getting into the streams.

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Preschoolers will Later Dismantle and Dispose of Monsters on Halloween

A Conservation Blog Supporting DC’s Plastic Straw Ban and What We Can Do to Combat Single Use Plastics Debuts October 30

For Immediate Release – Monday, October 29, 2018

For more information, contact Caroline Brewer, Director of Marketing and Communications, carolinebrewer@anshome.org or 301-652-9188, ext. 23, or Lisa Goodnight, lglisagoodnight@gmail.com or 301-523-5394.

CHEVY CHASE, MD – It’s not the ghosts or goblins that should have us shaking in our boots. Rather, it’s the prediction that our oceans will have more plastic waste than fish in a few short decades if we don’t change. To raise awareness of problems created by too much plastic in the environment, the Audubon Naturalist Society’s environmental education team designed a project with students from three Montgomery County elementary schools to create “monsters” out of plastic to illustrate the major threat to our ecosystem.

The monsters will be exhibited at the ANS Woodend Sanctuary, starting at 9 a.m. Halloween morning, October 31. (Please use the 9002 Brierly Road entrance, due to construction work.) At 10 a.m. and 1 p.m., ANS pre-school students will roam the nature sanctuary to capture, and ultimately, dispose of the approximately 20 creepy creatures.

The creatures were made by third, fourth and fifth graders from Captain James E. Daly Jr., Rolling Terrace, and Summit Hall Elementary Schools in Montgomery County through the ANS-led Unplug and Play afterschool program.  The environmental clubs, which are financially supported by the Montgomery County Council, meet every Wednesday until November 14 and have 48 students.

“The students were amazed at the sheer amount of trash – about 10-15 pounds of plastic bottles and containers – they were able to collect from near their schools and along a stream in just 45 minutes,’ said Diane Lill, Director of Environmental Education.” And they asked important questions about our plastic pollution problem.  It’s more evidence that environmental education that engages children with a hands-on project around issues happening in real time is a great way for young people to see how relevant science is to their lives. We’re proud of our Unplug and Play students for helping bring more awareness of the problems of plastic to people of all ages, and to our youngest learners.”

ANS’s Director of Conservation Eliza Cava has written a blog that will debut Tuesday, October 30, in support of D.C. City Council’s proposed ban on plastic straws. The blog, which will be found at this link, includes suggestions about what area residents can do to ward off environmental harm created by plastic waste.

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