NNWB Activities Summary 2010

Our mission :

To protect, promote, and restore the water quality, natural habitat, and ecological well-being of the Northwest Branch watershed through environmental education and direct action, and to enlist broad-based public participation in these goals and activities.

What did we do in 2010 to advance this mission?

Education and outreach:

We held five educational programs, sponsored three educational hikes, reached out to watershed residents through a mass paper mailing, sent out our first e-mail newsletter, and distributed our first survey of interests. We also honored several individuals who have made a significant contribution to stream protection and restoration.

  • Jan. 5 — Brent Bolin, new Director of Advocacy for the Anacostia Watershed Society, spoke about the AWS advocacy agenda for 2010. NNWB honored Jim Connolly for his 17 years of service to the Anacostia watershed through his leadership in the Anacostia Watershed Society.
  • Feb. 25 — An outreach letter was mailed to about 3,000 prospective members in Northwest Branch watershed zip codes.
  • Mar. 2 — Wildlife of the NWB Stream Valley. Rob Gibbs, Director of the Non-Native Invasive Plant Program and Deer Management Program in Montgomery County Parks, revealed the seen and rarely seen inhabitants of the stream valley.
  • May 4 — Stormwater: Head for the Hills! Ryan Zerbe, the new Watershed Outreach Planner for Montgomery County's Department of the Environment, gave an overview of stormwater management, the County's current stormwater regulations and programs, and the proposed approach to meeting those requirements.
  • Sept. 7 — Green Teams of the NW Branch: engaging your community. Neighbors of the Northwest Branch activists Ed Murtagh and Elaine Lamirande, founders of the Woodmoor Green Team, told how to organize neighborhood teams to lesson the pollution load into the Northwest Branch, the Anacostia River, and ultimately the Bay.
  • Sept. 28 — Our first newsletter went to donors via the E-Tapestry e-mail communications program and to others via listservs.
  • Oct. 28 — In an effort to more effectively focus our energies, we sent via listservs and E-Tapestry a request to fill out a short survey of interests. The survey was accessible on the NNWB website.
  • Dec. 7 — Annual Membership meeting and 7th Anniversary Celebration. Bob Hoyt, Director of the Montgomery County Department of Environmental Protection, spoke about plans and actions to meet more stringent water protection requirements. NNWB made four honor awards: Director Hoyt; Diane Cameron, Conservation Program Director for the Audubon Naturalist Society; and NNWB activists Ed Murtagh and Elaine Lamirande.
  • March 27, June 17, and November14 — NNWB sponsored educational hikes for children and families.

Direct actions:

  • We cleaned trash from the NWB at four sites in the spring (Kemp Mill, Piney Branch, W. Hyattsville, and Burnt Mills) and two sites in the fall (Piney Branch and W. Hyattsville), involving nearly a hundred volunteers total. We filled over 150 large bags with trash and hauled out tires, furniture, tubs, car parts, and construction debris, not bagged.
  • We participated in the Parks Department's Garlic Mustard Challenge on April 24, yanking out 317 pounds of garlic mustard.
  • We led monthly invasive plant removals, April through October.
  • We established a stream monitoring site on the NWB. The team took its first samples in April, then in July and October. It monitors benthic macroinvertebrates (primarily bottom dwelling insect larvae) four times annually using the Audubon Naturalist Society protocol.
  • We marked a dozen more stormdrains with "Do Not Pollute. Drains to the Northwest Branch" (or "to the Anacostia Rivear").
  • Our Green Team built a raingarden at Pine Crest E.S. and constructed three conservation landscapes in Woodmoor.

Sponsorships:

  • We cosponsored the Feb. 26 Brookside Gardens Green Matters Symposium: Food for Thought, which highlighted the importance of a local food economy and the impact locally- and sustainably-produced food can have on the environment, human health and well-being, and the surrounding community.
  • We cosponsored the Northwood Chesapeake Bay Trail project, which opened with fanfare and a 5K Bay Fun Run on June 5, National Trails Day. The Bay Trail is an amazing land restoration project in the NWB watershed. We tabled there June 5 & at a race on Oct. 16.

Advocacy:

  • Feb. 2. We reviewed and provided comments on the Army Corps of Engineers Northwest Branch Subwatershed Provisional Restoration Project Inventory and Action Plan, aimed at reducing the quantity and improving the quality of water in the Northwest Branch.
  • March 3. We wrote to all members of the Maryland House of Delegates Environmental Matters Committee in support of HB 999, the Watershed Protection and Restoration Act, which would require jurisdictions to charge property owners a stormwater fee based on impervious cover. Funds raised would go toward managing stormwater and restoring damaged streams.
  • March 10. We presented oral and written testimony to the Environmental Matters and Economic Matters committees of the Maryland House of Delegates, and written testimony to the Senate Finance and Education, Health, and Environmental Affairs committees in support of a plastic and paper bag fee modeled on the one the District of Columbia is finding so successful. (HB351 / SB462)
  • March 16. We presented written testimony to the House Environmental Matters Committee in support of HB 1321, an Act that would permit citizen reporting of littering and would require securing loads on vehicles.
  • April 6. We sent written testimony to the Joint Committee on Administrative, Executive, and Legislative Review strongly opposing the "Emergency Regulations," which watered down MDE's regulations implementing the Stormwater Management Act of 2007.
  • July 13. We provided oral and written testimony to the Montgomery County Council regarding Expedited Bill 40-10, a bill that incorporated the delays and some of the loopholes enacted in the Emergency Regulations. We requested modifications.

Organizational effectiveness:

  • March 14. We updated and signed our by-laws.
  • We trained ourselves in using E-Tapestry communications system, entered donor data, and generated a newsletter, two notices, and a paper election letter through the system.

How well did our activities advance our mission? Should we aim for more of the same, or alter course? Results from our survey should help us focus our efforts.