Northwood News ♦ April 2004

Rachel Carson Greenway Celebration

By Charles G. Pritchard

On Saturday, 20 March 2004, at the Burnt Mills Dam on Colesville Road, the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (MNPPC) celebrated the renaming of the former Northwest Branch Trail Corridor as the Rachel Carson Greenway in honor of the late renowned pioneer American natural scientist and early environmentalist.

County Councilmember Marilyn Praisner (right), flanked by MNCPPC Chairman Derick Berlage (left) and NFCCA President Charlie Pritchard (center), prepares to cut the ribbon at the unveiling of a new trail kiosk near the Burnt Mills Dam during the celebration of the renaming of the Northwest Branch Trail Corridor as the Rachel Carson Greenway. Pritchard spoke at the celebration.

Both the east bank and west bank natural surface trails between Colesville Road (Route 29) and Randolph Road have been improved during the past several years, thanks to a combined partnership of the MNCPPC and local residents. Many of the latter are from the communities along this major tributary of the Anacostia river. Headed by a dedicated team of Park and Planning trails specialists, the effort was also aided by the Americorps’ National Conservation Corps and the Montgomery County Conservation Corps. Currently this recreational trail complex offers a six-mile loop of the river north of the Burnt Mills Dam and an east bank trail below Colesville Road extending to the Capital Beltway Bridge where it joins a hard surface trail that runs all the way to the Peace Cross in Prince Georges County and a further connection with trails on the Northeast Branch and D.C.

MNCPPC plans to extend the trail north to Rachel Carson Conservation Park and the Patuxent River. There are also tentative plans to connect the Rachel Carson Greenway with the Seneca River Greenway and the Potomac River in western Montgomery County. This overall natural surface trail would provide from 90 to 100 miles of outdoor recreation for and natural observation while passing through some of the most historic and scenic regions of the county, including portions of the famed Underground Railway, which provided an avenue of flight from slave-holding states to the free states of the north before the Emancipation Proclamation of Abraham Lincoln. MNCPPC staff is planning another community meeting in April. For more information, the new website address for Montgomery County’s trail network is www.montgomerytrails.org. Lyn Coleman serves as project supervisor.

As part of the celebration, attendees could participate in a one-mile nature walk or six-mile hike along the trail or visit the Carson home at 11701 Berwick Lane in the Quaint Acres neighborhood, where she lived while writing her seminal book, Silent Spring, published in 1962, which helped launch the modern environmental movement. She died in 1964. ■