New EPA Tool for Your Watershed

A new tool for watershed assessment and monitoring.

Clicking the image takes you to http://watersgeo.epa.gov/mywaterway/search.html

Displaced Beavers in Arlington

Arlington Beavers Displaced by Hurricane Sandy

Posted on October 31, 2012 by acgcitizen

Hurricane Sandy’s high winds and driving rains brought some unusual visitors to two Arlington neighborhoods.
The Animal Welfare League of Arlington reported that on Tuesday, Oct. 30, the day after the storm’s fury peaked here, two calls came in of beavers sightings in our highly urbanized community.

“We don’t get many beaver calls at all, so two in one day was very unusual,” said the Animal Welfare League’s Susan Sherman. “It was definitely due to the weather.”  Sherman said one beaver, spotted in North Arlington, “escaped on its own,” but an Animal Control officer captured a second beaver sighted in Pentagon City, and set it free at Gravelly Point, near Reagan National Airport. Neither beaver, she said, showed any sign of injuries or illness. “There is no reason to think that once the waters recede, they won’t be back in business,” Sherman said.

Over the past decade, Arlington has been home to six to 12 beavers a year, according to Arlington County Naturalist Greg Zell. The County boasts two beaver lodges. Both are in Roach’s Run Waterfowl Sanctuary. Other beavers who live in the County build “bank dens,” into the banks of streams. “They dig a hole into the stream bank and tunnel up — sort of like a condo in the mud,” Zell said. Arlington beavers tend to be two-year-olds who have been ejected from colonies along the Potomac River. “They are very transient,” Zell said. “They come here looking for a home, and some don’t like what they see. We have a very marginal habitat in Arlington for beavers.”

Zell speculated that the two beavers who strayed into neighborhoods in the wake of Sandy were temporarily flooded out of their homes. “They were inconvenienced, like the rest of us,” he said. “Now that the storm is gone, they’ll go back to their homes and refurbish them.”

Zell cautioned that if you see a beaver, ” don’t pet it, don’t let your pets near it. Either allow it to wander off on its own, or call the Animal Welfare League if the animal cannot escape.”

Sandy’s impact on most wildlife in Arlington was temporary and limited, Zell said. Most migratory birds, have already passed through the County or headed south for the winter. Squirrels may have suffered the loss of their nests, and will have to quickly rebuild before winter hits. Small snakes, moles, shrews and other smaller wildlife that normally live beneath the soil may have been forced to the surface by the drenching rain, but will be fine once the ground dries out.

From the Potomac Riverkeeper's FB Page

If you schedule allows, go take a look before dark today, or tomorrow morning.

Potomac Riverkeeper

The Potomac is expected to crest at the Little Falls gauge by 9pm with a height of 10.6 ft. Take a look upriver if you're driving across Chain Bridge!  

Fish Fun in the River

It is predicted that Main Stem Potomac Flooding will again strand smallmouth bass in the C&O canal upstream of Shephardstown. Email Ben Hynes at fishpotomac@gmail.com if you want to get in on the action to remove them.  

Typically they use electrofishing equipment which is really fun to do.  I'm hoping to help.  

Little Falls River Level Forecast

The level was about 3 feet and 2,900 cfs (cubic feet per second) when we visited last week.  If it reaches 15.3 feet, it will not only be 12 feet deeper, but will be carrying almost 100 x more water! (260,000 cfs).

Prediction at 7:30pm on 10/29/2012:

Northern Virginia Center Closed Monday, 10/29

Were were not scheduled to meet tonight anyway, but I wanted to make sure you all knew (despite conflicting VT Alerts), that the Northern Virginia Center was closed today, Monday, due to the storm.

Sandy Impact - Hampshire Outdoors

Rather than cross-post, please check in on my Hampshire Outdoors Blog.   If it's safe, monitor your watershed through this event, or at least try to do so with online tools.  I'm happy to help.

Lauren T.'s Flood Mapping Tools

I accidentally posted this on my South Branch Watershed Blog, rather than our course blog. (It was relevant to the other blog, so it's still posted there):


From Lauren's Meanders to Mitigation blog: FEMA Flood Maps:

If anyone is interested in learning about floodplains and how that information is used for flooding mitigation, flood zone delineation, and building requirements, here is a link to the Map Service Center. Let me know if you have any questions about using the site!

Outdoors with ACE next month:

This is a good opportunity with kids or friends, or to meet green people.  

Be sure to mention that an eel or crayfish decal would be more appropriate.

Storm Drain Marking

Sunday, November 4
2:00 to 4:00 p.m.
Spout Run

   

Join us for a family friendly volunteer event where you will help to place storm drain markers that discourage dumping and encourage others help to keep our waters clean. We will be marking drains in the Spout Run area of Arlington.


Can't make it in November? Consider joining us in December!

 

Invasive Plant Removal 

Sunday, December 2
1:00 to 3:00 p.m. 
Lacy Woods Park 

Join us for fall invasive plant removal where you will be helping to remove invasive plants throughout Lacy Woods Park so that native species can thrive!  

Meeting location and additional details for each event will be sent to registered participants. To register, send an email to volunteer@arlingtonenvironment.org or call 703-228-6406 and be sure to tell us the event(s) for which you'd like to be registered.

Meeting Tonight - 7pm

I'm looking forward to lots of presentations tonight, and then some work time for you to maintain momentum with my direct help, or the help of others.

Jim

Agenda:

Reflective Writing - The Election and Natural Resources

Resources from the Saturday Trip
Map
Pimmit Run
C&O Canal
Flood videos
   - 1936 Flood simulation
   - video footage from 1936
   -  Chain Bridge 2011,  and another
Other Video
   - Canoeing Little Falls
   - Successful kayaker
   - Squirt video 2
   - Dickerson power plant
Trees

Presentations

Work Time

Chain Bridge tomorrow - 9am

In case you don't find it on your own from the Schedule link on the blog, this is just a reminder that tomorrow we'll be exploring the fall line of the Potomac, walking from Chain Bridge upstream to Lock 6, where the U.S. Whitewater team has modified the old feeder canal built by George Washington's Patowmack Canal Company.

Note that we'll be parking in the neighborhood way up the hill from the bridge.  Give yourself extra time - streets in that area are a little tricky.

Fall Line / Urban Stream Corridors

Chain Bridge, Little Falls, Locks 5 & 6

MAP:

View Larger Map

Grow-Out Stations

Here is a slide set describing school-based grow-out stations (and more):

Uploaded on SlideServe by skah | Upload your own presentation

Software from Virginia Tech

Posted by Andrea Auerbach' Blog. 

Software from Virginia Tech

Need software like Office, Adobe, or ArcGIS? Virginia Tech offers a variety of free or discounted software to students: http://www2.ita.vt.edu/software/student/products/index.html

Free Tree Distribution on Saturday

Reposted from ARLnow.com

by Katie Pyzyk  | October 10, 2012 at 9:45 am | 35 Comments

The leaves may already be falling, but there’s an opportunity for you to green up your neighborhood this weekend. The county is giving away free trees to Arlington residents.

All of the trees, referred to as whips, are native to Virginia. They’re distributed in one, two or three gallon containers and typically range in height from two to four feet.

Representatives from the Arlington County Landscape staff and from TreeStewards will be on hand to offer planting guidelines and tree care tips. They can also explain characteristics of each tree species.

Distribution will take place from 8:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. on Saturday (October 13) at the Arlington County nursery facility. It is located behind the baseball field at S. George Mason Drive and Four Mile Run. Parking is available in the lot in front of the field.

Each residential property is allotted one free tree; multi-family properties should email info@treestewards.org to obtain extra trees. Those interested in picking up a tree on Saturday should register online for a particular species. The spice bushes are sold out, but the remaining species are as follows:

• American beech
• American holly
• Red oak
• American basswood
• Hophornbeam
• Hornbeam
• Sassafras
• Persimmon

For questions, email Environmental Landscape Supervisor Patrick Wegeng at pwegeng@arlingtonva.us.

Collaboration in Benthic Monitoring

Hello all,  I'm working in Hampton Roads again this week and am delayed in getting back to you.  Aaron extended this idea/invitation yesterday after our Saturday outing.   Contact Aaron directly at "Aaron McCann" <aamccann@vt.edu> -  Jim

As you know, Morlai and I have decided to work together on Protocol #5.  I would not mind leading a group to perform a macroinvertebrate count at different sites.  I have done this with the National Park Service along the George Washington Memorial Parkway and at Prince William Forest Park.  This would be a good experience for me to share and enhance my knowledge of macroinvertebrate sampling.    

We could take advantage of this upcoming weekend, October 13-14 since there is no field trip and before the weather gets too cold.  The weekend of October 27-28 could be an alternative.  Morlai wants to do a site along Bull Run and I will be doing Lubber Run (south of  Ballston Pond).  Also, I would like to take you up on your offer to borrow some gear for this project.

Please forward this email to the rest of the class so I can coordinate with anyone else interested in Protocol #5.  A group of 3-4 would be best and we could potentially finish with the data collection in one day.  Those interested can contact me directly so we can choose a day to do this.  Thanks.

Saturday - 9am Lubber Run Community Center

It looks like we will be lucky with weather once again.  I'll see you at 9am in the parking lot of the Lubber Run Community Center.



View Larger Map

Vincent's Photos of Native Virginia Trees

Be sure to notice the MORE button at the bottom.

http://beautifulvirginiatrees.tumblr.com

Here's a sample photo featuring the Baldcypress seeds I brought to class on Monday.

Vincent will be leading the Growing Native Seed Collection on Saturday.  This is another good outing to bring significant others.

EPA's MyWatersMapper

I wasn't familiar with the new MyWaters Mapper until Lauren T shared it.

http://www.epa.gov/waters/enviromapper/

Custom Map Tutorial for Google Maps

Here is a video that explains some custom map features.  See more here.

Reminder - Bring Calendars tonight

I'm overdue in sharing a draft for the meeting schedule for the remainder of the semester.  I realize your availability may no longer be as open, particularly on Saturdays.  So we may be able to collaboratively schedule additional Saturday meetings for October and November tonight.  Also, because of water levels, I like to have backup plans and/or optional outings.