Northwood News ♦ December 2001

Lockridge Project Part of Anacostia Restoration

By Carole Barth and Charles Pritchard

Regular patrons of our own Northwest Branch Stream Valley Park have witnessed one example of the joint Montgomery County/U.S.  Army Corps of Engineers (COE) and Washington Council of Government (COG) environmental program designated the “Anacostia Restoration Project.”  This program was conceived several years ago as a means of countering the severe degradation of the Anacostia watershed that encompasses several subwatersheds in the National Capital area (Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties and the District of Columbia).

The underlying problem that precipitated this program is the severe erosion of tributary and main stream rivers in the watershed and subsequent pollution caused largely by increased storm water runoff.  The runoff, in turn, is a product of expanded urban development and expansion of impermeable surfaces (highways, streets, parking lots, commercial and residential construction, etc.).

The current engineering work being carried out on the Northwest Branch includes defensively covering collapsing banks with large rocks (“armoring”), some stream realignment, and, later, bio-engineering (natural vegetation implantation and reforestation along the banks).  This work was scheduled to have been carried out two or three years ago but was delayed because of COE budgetary shortfalls.  Three areas are currently involved:

• 1. Stream banks from the Old Randolph Road Bridge downstream for a short distance, a project recently completed.
• 2. The Lockridge tributary project, currently in progress.
• 3. The Northwood Terrace project in the tributary between Forest Knolls and Kemp Mill, which is scheduled for the future.

Of note on our own nearby Lockridge project is the small subtributary that passes from the northwest to southeast (i.e., Lockridge Creek), which has been heavily armored.  Some residents originally complained of the erosion produced by heavy rains.  Regrettably, the COE and County Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) draw the very large rocks used in armoring (called “rip-rap”) from a quarry that produces a chalky, grayish white rock that is not natural to the stream valley area.  Complainants have been turned away with citations of excessive cost to locate, quarry, and transport rock that matches our own.  Hopefully, moss and vegetation may eventually mitigate the raw appearance or these “dinosaur eggs” may weather to a more natural appearance.

In the process of clearing space, shrubbery has been reduced along the Lockridge tributary.  The sacrifice of this shrubbery was no great loss since most of it was invasive alien plants that crowded out all native plant growth [see story, page 1].  We have talked with DEP about the Civic Association helping to replant the cleared area with native trees and shrubs and they are happy to work with us.  We did a similar planting along other sections of the trail with the M-NCPPC Forest Ecologist, so this will present another opportunity for a coordinated effort.  Without replanting, the newly opened canopy will provide an environment that encourages the spread of invasive exotics.

Also, we have discussed with DEP the possibility of installing a rain garden at the end of Lockridge Drive.  Rain gardens are landscaped areas that use plants, soil, mulch, and living organisms to capture and treat stormwater runoff.  Within the rain garden, a shallow depression stores four to six inches of water for four to six hours after a rainfall.  This is enough time to allow for uptake, infiltration, and pollutant removal, but not enough time to support mosquito breeding.  We will be meeting with DEP soon to develop this idea further.

An interesting sidebar to the stream restoration program exists at the recently completed Old Randolph Road project.  Previously, the Northwest Trail that parallels the Branch on its west bank terminates at an exit near Wheaton Regional Park across from the Wheaton Stable.  The project required an access road from this point upstream to the Old Randolph Bridge where the staging area was located temporarily.  The original construction permit called for closure of this road upon completion of the project.  We pointed out to both Park and Planning and the DEP that leaving a narrow path along this right-of-way would provide access to the bridge and a connection to the east bank.

This connection would serve two purposes.  Firstly, it would enhance the ultimate extension of the Northwest natural surface trail (not paved) north to Ednor Road, a proposal that has been formally adopted in the “County Legacy Open Space” program.  Secondly, it would potentially provide a pedestrian loop trail for hikers, joggers, and nature enthusiasts between Randolph and Colesville Road, a distance of approximately six miles, encompassing both the east and west banks of the stream.   ■