Tag: streams
Scene around A-Town: Frogs!
I’ve walked along the Holmes Run Stream Valley trail several times a month for years and never saw anything like this: On Sunday, Feb. 28, a large puddle next to the trail was filled with hundreds of very loud frogs. This was on the part of the trail in Annandale near Round Tree Park. The … Continued
Fairfax County to revise master plan for Lake Accotink
The Fairfax County Park Authority is beginning the process of revising the master plan for Lake Accotink Park. A public meeting on the plan revision will be held March 14, 7 p.m., at Cardinal Forest Elementary School. Fairfax Board Chair Sharon Bulova; supervisors John Cook (Braddock), Jeff McKay (Lee), and Pat Herrity (Springfield); and members … Continued
Stream restoration project in Pinecrest Golf Course to start this month
Pinecrest Golf Course. The Fairfax County Park Authority expects to begin work in mid-February on renovating a portion of Turkeycock Run within the Pinecrest Golf Course, at 6600 Little River Turnpike in the Alexandria portion of Mason District. The project is being done to stabilize Turkeycock Run to reduce erosion and sedimentation within the watershed. … Continued
Stream restoration projects under way in Wakefield Park
Accotink Creek in Wakefield Park The Fairfax County Department of Public Works and Environmental Services is carrying out two stream restoration projects at Wakefield Park in Annandale. Work along 3,700 feet in the Accotink Creek watershed area will include the installation of various in-stream structures, a pedestrian bridge crossing, and pipe culverts, as well as … Continued
Trail bridge at Green Spring Gardens is being replaced
The trail bridge at Green Spring Gardens is being replaced by the Fairfax County Park Authority. The three-month construction project will start within the next few weeks. The existing bridge needs to be replaced because of stream erosion. The new bridge will be longer and its supports will be wider apart. The $300,000 project consists … Continued
Local teen fixes up Long Branch trail
Carter Murray on Long Branch trail. The trail along the Long Branch Stream in Annandale has been improved by Carter Murray, 17, who completed an Eagle Scout project involving the use of gravel to smooth out the trail. Murray, a senior at Woodson High School and member to Boy Scout Troop 1965, started planning the … Continued
Scene around A-Town: a big snapper
Snapping turtles bite. [Photo by Kristel Wilson] This large snapping turtle was sighted by Kristel Wilson by the footbridge on the Holmes Run trail near Valleycrest Drive in Annandale. She estimates it was about a foot and a-half long and at one point started chasing her with its mouth wide open. If you see it, … Continued
Plastic bag tax fails in Virginia General Assembly
Plastic bags clog a stream feeding into the Chesapeake Bay. By Elizabeth Kirchner Despite widespread grassroots support and the possibility of about $20 million in annual revenue dedicated to Chesapeake Bay cleanup efforts, a bill establishing a 5-cent “plastic bag tax” failed to get out of committee Jan 21. The bill, introduced in the Virginia … Continued
Fish kill at Holmes Run
A couple of people who regularly fish in Holmes Run reported a fish kill in recent days, but inspection teams from the Fairfax County Department of Public Works and Environmental Services (DPWES) did not find any dead fish. One person who went fishing at Holmes Run on Jan. 1 saw “a whole lot of fish … Continued
Volunteers form friends group for Long Branch Stream Valley
Volunteers collect trash along the Long Branch trail Oct. 18. [LBSV photos] Volunteers from several Annandale and Fairfax neighborhoods created a new group, the Friends of Long Branch Stream Valley, to maintain the trail and address erosion, water quality management, invasive species removal, and related environmental issues. The 2.75-mile Long Branch trail follows the stream … Continued
Effective, safe mosquito control requires more brains than brawn
Yard signs from mosquito control companies. [photo by Friends of Accotink Creek] By Elizabeth Kirchner A yard sign advertisement shows a muscular cartoon warrior wielding a backpack sprayer blasting a towering spear-stingered mosquito: Insecticide “fogging” to control mosquitoes in summertime backyards seems powerful and effective, but specialists—even representatives of insect-control industries, Fairfax County, and the … Continued
Fairfax County restores Wakefield Run
The newly restored Wakefield Run. The Wakefield Run restoration project is just about complete, except for some additional replanting that will be done by the contractor and volunteers. The stream is supposed to direct high water out onto the floodplain, and it has done so during a couple of rainstorms that occurred since it was … Continued
Annandale waterways overflowing after rainstorm
Thanks to Annandale Blog reader James Tuttle for sending these photos of flooding along Holmes Run on the Annandale/Falls Church border, during a break in the heavy rains that inundated the area April 30. The water level was “higher than anyone in our family has ever seen it,” Tuttle says.
Small environmental group focusing on stream conservation makes a big splash
Wakefield Run before the restoration project started. Friends of Accotink Creek (FAC) has been named 2013 “Cooperator of the Year” by the Northern Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District (NVSWCD). FAC is an all-volunteer organization committed to protecting and restoring water quality in a major waterway that flows through the Annandale area and drains into … Continued
Major sewage spill at Holmes Run and Cameron Run
Dead fish in Dora Kelley Nature Park. [Photo by Mark Kelly.] UPDATE: A notice from Fairfax County urges people to avoid Holmes Run stream between Columbia Pike and Dowden Terrace. A sanitary sewer line has broke at Holmes Run, and the City of Alexandria has published a warning urging people to “avoid contact with waters … Continued