Restoring our Native Ecosystems

A joint event of Tree Friends United with the Little Falls Watershed Alliance at Glen Echo Park

Next Outings: Thursday, March 5, 1-3 PM at Carderock Park. We’ll be working near the far left lot (Lot #1, downriver).  Sign up here to join us and get logistics and weather updates:  https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0549A4A92EA0F94-62398218-carderock

and Wednesday, March 25, 1-3 PM on MacArthur Blvd. Meet at the Sycamore Store parking lot (7025 MacArthur Blvd, near Walhonding Road) to work 0.3-0.7 miles inbound along MacArthur toward the Brookmont neighborhood.  There are some potentially challenging approaches, as ground is sometimes sloped.  Sign up here to get logistics and weather updates: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0549A4A92EA0F94-62675746-macarthur#/

Also coming up: You’re invited to attend a March 10 talk at the Town of Glen Echo’s town hall (6106 Harvard Avenue) at 7 PM on cultivating native plants by professional horticulturist Holly Shimizu, head of the Botanical Gardens. 

and Candidates for County Executive will discuss their views on current environmental issues at a Green Forum on Monday, March 16, 7-8:30 Pm at Silver Spring Civic Center. Tree Friends is among the co-sponsors. 

For more information, or to join our mailing list, send email to: avanti7700@verizon.net

Tree Friends United is a group of over 250 citizens centered in the Glen Echo, MD area who are concerned with the accelerating spread of invasive species overwhelming Montgomery County's parklands, roads, and neighborhoods. As volunteers, we assist the National Park Service (NPS), the county, and residents to remove invasive vines that are smothering trees and the plants that are destroying native ecosystems. As advocates, we are allied with other groups to seek broader public awareness of the growing problem, achieve better funding, and establish coordinated action to counter the invasives. Further, we seek changes in park service policies to actively engage our communities to maintain the ecological vibrancy of our public lands. 

Without decisive action, the future of our parklands is well represented by the photo above of the immense spread of kudzu on NPS land near historic Glen Echo Park. Like a growing cancer, the kudzu's relentless expansion has flattened many acres of tall trees. It is now extending its devastation across the C&O Canal towards the Potomac River. On the Virginia side, large kudzu patches have now appeared on NPS's formerly scenic George Washington Memorial Parkway and are moving to destroy the currently vibrant ecosystem along the river. 

Allowing invasive vines to kill our communities' trees and the expanding deterioration of our parklands is not acceptable. It can be solved. Ignoring the problems allows them to exponentially increase. But it takes community action and support to reverse the course.   We count on you to help restore our trees, ecosystems, and make our voices heard!