Photo: Scouts rehabilitating the trail at Monticello Park, Deidra Bryant
Deidra Bryant
On the Sunday before Thanksgiving more than 30 volunteers came together for a service project at Monticello Park in Alexandria. The volunteers -- neighbors, members of the North Ridge Citizens’ Association, local Boy Scouts, Arlington and Fairfax Regional Master Naturalists, birdwatchers, and members and friends of ASNV -- rolled up their sleeves and went to work restoring trails damaged by erosion and removing invasive plant species from a property that abuts the park, all as part of ASNV’s Stretch Our Parks program. This was the second work project at Monticello Park this Fall, and for both events an essential partner has been the Alexandria Department of Recreation, Parks & Cultural Activities, which provided guidance on appropriate trail work, as well as supplies of mulch, tools, and, for the first event, native trees and shrubs to plant.
Before I describe the project itself, I want to provide some background information on the importance of the park to the local ecology. In addition to being a much-used neighborhood park for children, dog walkers, and nearby residents, Monticello Park is an important resource for resident and migrating birds. The park is roughly 7 acres of old growth forest and is a stopover site for migrating songbirds. The park provides a place where birds can rest, bathe, drink, and feed in the vegetation and along the small stream that goes through the park. It’s a green oasis located in a highly developed area, so it is a popular spot for birders to find warblers and grosbeaks easily, especially in the springtime. Bill Young, a writer and frequent lecturer for ASNV, and his friend Ashley Bradford, a naturalist and photographer, created the MPNature website in 2018 to help people know what to look for when preparing to visit, understand what they are seeing when in the park, and learn more about what they have seen once they return home. The site includes interesting and accessible natural history essays about the animals and plants that can be found at Monticello Park.
Scouts rehabilitating the trail, Deidra Bryant
So, the work on that Sunday: The trail restoration work, which required some heavy lifting, relied on the strong backs of Boy Scouts from Troop 129. They helped haul 50+ bags of shredded pine bark mulch to a trail with a lot of exposed roots. The erosion is caused by people walking on the path, which wears down the substrate and packs it down far enough to expose tree roots. The exposed roots are a tripping hazard but also endanger the trees’ health: they are easily damaged, exposing the tree to infection and limiting water uptake. The remedy is mulch, about 2-3 inches, spread evenly over the trail and exposed roots. It retains moisture and protects the roots while giving the path a clean look. Protecting tree health improves habitat for birds, insects, and small mammals like squirrels who make their homes in the canopy. Last year the Boy Scouts planted young trees by the park’s stream. Their troop leader, Andy Berlett, said the experience gives scouts an understanding of how to be good stewards of a park and the environment.
Volunteer attacking invasive vines, Deidra Bryant
On private property that is adjacent to Monticello Park and under a Northern Virginia Conservation Trust easement, ASNV board member Gary Shinners, with the landowner’s permission, led a group of volunteers in clearing a number of choking invasive plant species – thereby stretching the ecological benefits Monticello Park provides. The target plants included Wineberry, Amur Honeysuckle, English Ivy, Himalayan Blackberry, and Porcelain Berry. The volunteers helped clear thickets, uproot woody invasives, and properly dispose of them. It can be heavy work, employing shovels, hand saws, loppers, hedge shears, and heavy-duty landscaping gloves for pulling out thorny plants. To dispose of the plants, volunteers collected the debris in garbage bags for disposal. If the plants are composted, their seeds and roots can be transported to another property.
Clearing invasives gives native species a chance to thrive. When an invasive plant propagates in an area, it monopolizes a space and outcompetes natives for resources like sunlight, soil nutrients, and water absorption. The invasion decreases plant biodiversity, and ultimately degrades wildlife habitat. Some of the invasives, like Porcelain Berry, produce large amounts of seeds, which can be distributed by local wildlife, or Wineberry and Himalayan Blackberry, whose seeds can be carried great distances by the wind. Some invasives have aggressive root systems that will spread long distances and smother the root systems of surrounding vegetation.
Two of the most abundant invasives the volunteers worked on were Porcelain Berry and Amur Honeysuckle. Porcelain Berry is a deciduous woody vine that invades damp, shady areas and forms dense mats that crowd out native vegetation. It also climbs trees. Amur Honeysuckle is one of the most common and invasive bush honeysuckles found in the Mid-Atlantic region. It impedes reforestation of cut or disturbed areas, preventing reestablishment of native plants by leafing out earlier than most natives and forming dense thickets that shade out most native species. Information on the two invaders, along with control strategies, is available on the Blue Ridge PRISM website.
The Stretch Our Parks service project at Monticello Park was a great success. The project helped protect tree canopy and removed invasive species to allow the valuable habitat in the park to stretch beyond its boundaries. The activity tapped into neighborhood appreciation for the park and provided hands-on ways to care for the park and its surrounding areas. The cleanup also helped new volunteers learn to identify invasive plants and remove them. Watch our newsletter and website for more projects like this one.
And, we are hopeful it can serve as a model for other areas – by demonstrating how parks, neighbors and their neighborhood associations, and other community groups like scouts, can work together to conserve and expand our urban forests and support native wildlife.