On April 11 and May 15, 2024, FODM volunteers collected sediment samples from the bed of the unnamed stream that flows through Mount Vernon Park, Westgrove Dog Park, River Towers Condominium properties and into Dyke Marsh. FODM started monitoring this stream in 2016 in partnership with the Northern Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District (NVSWCD).
News
On May 19, 2024, National Park Service George Washington Memorial Parkway staff opened the rebuilt, 1,070-foot-long bridge 23 in Dyke Marsh, east of Tulane Drive.
In 2022, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) proposed to build a six- to seven-foot-high wall with removable “aluminum stop-log closures” at the street intersections just west of the George Washington Memorial Parkway.
Turtles are slow, unseen by people most of the year and often trivialized in cartoons, but “turtles provoke a sense of wonder and amazement,” said Dr. Matt Close who gave a Zoom presentation to 67 enthusiasts on May 15, 2024.
On April 22, 2024, ten dedicated volunteers and two National Park Service staffers planted 150 native black willow tree (Sali nigra) stakes in the hydric soils of Dyke Marsh.
On April 17, 2024, FODM volunteers and National Park Service (NPS) staffers surveyed the 18 pumpkin ash trees (Fraxinus profunda) that we have been protecting in Dyke Marsh since 2015.