Many people delight in the ospreys’ spring return from their southern wintering grounds in Florida, the Caribbean and Central and South America to spots near water in Northern Virginia.
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In June 2022, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ (ACE) proposed a “tentatively selected plan” to build a floodwall and levee in the Belle Haven, New Alexandria, Belle View and River Towers areas of Fairfax County near the Dyke Marsh Wildlife Preserve.
A Summary of Comments Submitted to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on the Proposed Belle Haven Floodwall and Levee
On August 29, 2022, the Friends of Dyke Marsh (FODM) submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (ACE or Corps), requesting all comments and any suggested alternatives submitted to the Corps, on their Draft Integrated Feasibility Report and EA [IFR/EA] (May 2022) for the proposed Belle Haven floodwall and levee.
Each numbered item below links to the document described.
2. Fairfax County comments, redacted
3. DC Coastal Public comments - 280 pages - redacted
4. Arlington County comments, redacted
5. U.S. Environmental Protction Agency comments, redacted
6. Fairfax County Park Authority comments, redacted
7. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - Baltimore District comments, Part 1, asking question, redacted
8. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - Baltimore District comments, Part 2, redacted
9. George Washington Memorial Parkway comments
10. Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority comments
11. National Marine Fisheries Service, Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office comments, redacted
12. National Park Service comments, redacted
13. Virginia Department of Environmental Quality comments, redacted
14. Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources comments, redacted
Spring 2023 brought a frenzy of reproduction in the natural world. Many people have stood for hours watching and photographing a barred owl (Strix varia) pair and a great horned owl (Bubo virginianus) pair raise their young. In early May, observers began to see the fledglings of both pairs exploring the immediate environs.
On the January 16, 2023, Martin Luther King Day of Service, 131 enthusiastic volunteers clipped English ivy (Hedera helix) off trees in Dyke Marsh and collected 70 bags of trash weighing 446 pounds.
