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City of Greenbelt, Maryland Forest Preserve Stewardship Guidelines 2019

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City of Greenbelt, Maryland Forest Preserve Stewardship Guidelines 2019 CITY OF GREENBELT, MARYLAND FOREST PRESERVE STEWARDSHIP GUIDELINES 2019 Executive Summary The Greenbelt Forest Preserve is 254.8 acres of forested land that are protected and conserved in their existing natural state, for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations. The Forest Preserve serves a vital function by providing a link between residents of the city and nature. The Forest Preserve is part of Greenbelt’s cultural identity, its ambiance and sense of place. It adds to Greenbelt’s air and water quality and ultimately, by reducing storm water runoff, improves the quality of the Chesapeake Bay. By providing a form of passive recreation, it contributes to the health and wellness of Greenbelt residents. The Guidelines aim to expand on Greenbelt’s historic legacy by suggesting ways to protect the Forest Preserve and its wildlife in a natural state to the maximum extent practicable. On October 27, 2003, the City of Greenbelt passed legislation to designate these lands as a “Forest Preserve” (Ordinance No. 1243). Subsequently, a task force of citizens was formed to write the Management and Maintenance Guidelines, which were adopted by the City in 2007. This current document revises the Management and Maintenance Guidelines, expanding and clarifying the care needed for the Forest Preserve. In updating the guidelines, the Forest Preserve Advisory Board adopted a new title Stewardship Guidelines to reflect a more active approach for protecting and conserving this dynamic ecosystem. When the federal government established the town of Greenbelt in the 1930s the city planners intended the land around the town to be a “belt of green.” Greenbelt was designed as a “Garden City,” a residential area surrounded by forests, community gardens, recreational facilities, farms, and other green space. This green space would provide health benefits to residents as well as protection from encroachment by nearby development that was out-of-character with the town's design. As the decades passed, parts of the “belt of green” were sold, developed, and repurchased, resulting in the loss of much of the original forest. These Stewardship Guidelines are detailed and multifaceted, to cover a wide range of events, activities and uses of the forest that could have impacts on the health of the ecosystem. Residents of Greenbelt are encouraged to enjoy the Forest Preserve and explore it passively. People are encouraged to walk on designated trails. These guidelines exist so that the impact of human activity on the ecosystem is kept to a minimum. Many activities, such as lighting fires, hunting, camping, building structures and disposing of litter, are not permitted. The city code describes these in detail. Both natural events and anthropogenic activities can impact the quality of the air, land and water, as well as the health of the plants, animals and microscopic organisms. These i guidelines cover ecosystem health, trails, invasive species, disturbance, wetlands, non- conforming uses, litter cleanup, special events, and enforcement. All of these topics have been carefully reviewed and revised to create this update to the original 2007 guidelines. Ecosystem Health: The chapter on ecosystem health discusses how to determine if a forest ecosystem is healthy and functioning, and describes strategies for improving the health of the Preserve. Trails: The section on trails discusses the existing primitive informal trails and proposes a Master Trails Plan. This plan would create a designated trail system in the Preserve and describe the type and intensity of trail maintenance that should occur in order to maintain ecological health in each area. These guidelines stipulate that in all instances the City will maintain the trails to the minimal extent possible. Invasive Species: The chapter establishes a process to evaluate the impacts of invasive species in the preserve and a strategy to reduce their impacts on the forest ecosystem in a manner that will minimize disturbance caused by invasive species management. The principles of Integrated Pest Management shall be used in all planning for invasive species management. Disturbance: The disturbance section describes natural and anthropogenic disturbances in the Preserve, and establishes a method for the Board to assess and address various types of disturbance. Wetlands: This chapter describes wetlands and provides details about the location and condition of streams and wetlands in various Preserve tracts. It also describes threats to wetland and stream health and methods for assessing their health along with possible stewardship remediation. Specially Managed Areas: The parcels that make up the Preserve include non- forested areas that have been set aside for other uses. The specially managed areas section addresses these areas, as well as impacts to the Preserve from activities and uses on adjacent land. Cleanup, Enforcement and Special Events: This final chapter discusses litter and debris cleanup, the permitting process and the management of special events, prohibited activities within the Preserve and their enforcement. Glossary Appendix A: A copy of Greenbelt City Code pertaining to the Preserve, Article IX, Sec. 12-150 to 12-163 is included as Appendix A Appendix B: Legal protections of the parcels of the Greenbelt Forest Preserve Typically, the hallmark sign of ecosystem health is the presence of a wide diversity of organisms, living in a harmonious community. These guidelines seek to ii improve—or at a minimum, to maintain—the ecosystem health and biodiversity in the Preserve, while also allowing compatible recreation. iii Table of Contents Executive Summary ........................................................................................................................................ i Table of Contents ......................................................................................................................................... iv HISTORY AND OVERVIEW.............................................................................................................................. 1 ECOSYSTEM HEALTH ................................................................................................................................... 10 TRAILS.......................................................................................................................................................... 13 INVASIVE SPECIES ........................................................................................................................................ 17 DISTURBANCES............................................................................................................................................ 23 WETLANDS .................................................................................................................................................. 25 CLEAN-UP, ENFORCEMENT AND SPECIAL EVENTS...................................................................................... 33 SPECIALLY MANAGED AREAS ...................................................................................................................... 35 GLOSSARY.................................................................................................................................................... 38 Appendix A .................................................................................................................................................. 42 Appendix B .................................................................................................................................................. 50 iv Chapter One HISTORY AND OVERVIEW 1.1. History In the 1930s, the federal government established the town of Greenbelt as a New Deal era experiment in suburban planning. City planners envisioned that residential areas would be surrounded in perpetuity by what they called a "belt of green" that was to contain forests, community gardens, recreational facilities, farms, and other green space. Planners believed that green space immediately adjacent to residential areas would provide health benefits to residents. Planners also expected the belt to protect the town from encroachment by nearby development that was out-of-character with the town's design. New Deal planners cited as one of their inspirations the "Garden City" design of Ebenezer Howard, which called for a 5,000-acre belt of green around a 1,000- acre developed area. The cooperative housing of the New Deal era and the rest of what is now called "Old Greenbelt" occupies approximately 1,000 acres, but only a small portion of the surrounding 5,000 acres is still green space.1 The tracts of the present-day Forest Preserve are among the portions of the town's original "belt of green" that still exist. Elsewhere in town, the southern portion of the belt of green was safeguarded, when approximately 1,000 acres were transferred to the National Park Service in 1950 to create Greenbelt Park. New Deal planners intended the thousands of acres of green space in the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC) to permanently protect Greenbelt from encroachment from the north. To the west of the original cooperative housing, a partial "belt of green" exists today as Buddy Attick Park and the Belle Point Tract and Boxwood Tract of the Forest Preserve. The surviving portion of the belt of green that lies immediately to the east of Greenbelt's original cooperative housing is made up of the two largest tracts of the present-day Forest
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