FALL 2019 Wildlife Conservation in a Changing World Can Wildlife Adapt?
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SINCE 1976 THE FRIENDS OF DYKE MARSH FALL 2019 Wildlife Conservation in a Changing World Can Wildlife Adapt? On November 13, Dr. Sally Valdes will explore with FODM how climate change is affecting wildlife and offer some steps for addressing this threat. Climate change is happening now. Even if we drastically reduce emissions FODM Quarterly Meeting soon, changes will continue into the fu- Wednesday, November 13, at ture because greenhouse gases already 7:30 p.m., Huntley Meadows emitted can stay in the atmosphere for Park, Norma Hoffman Visitor decades. How will this affect wildlife? Center, 3701 Lockheed Blvd., Can wildlife adapt? What can we do to help? A red fox searches for food on the ice at Alexandria, VA 22306. Phone Dyke Marsh. Photo by Ed Eder 703 768-2525. Free to all. Climate change on its own, and in combination with other stresses, may Calendar of Events push many species to their limits. Cli- ecosystem ecology. She worked for al- Sunday morning bird walks mate change can adversely affect wild- most 25 years as a biologist in several will not be held from Decem- life, for example, when the life cycles of federal government agencies. Since re- ber 15 through 29 because of interdependent species get out of sync tiring, she has taught an environmental the National Audubon Socie- and when rising coastal waters flood health and a wildlife ecology class. ty’s and other area Christmas nesting sites. Too little or too much pre- As a federal employee, Dr. Valdes bird counts. See calendar on p. cipitation can stress whole ecosystems. served on an advisory group that devel- 7 and website at fodm.org for Dr. Valdes has a Ph. D. in aquatic oped the U.S. Geological Survey’s Na- events and details. ecology from Cornell University with tional Climate Change and Wildlife Sci- minors in natural resource policy and MEETING (continued on page 7) CONTENTS Second Phase of Dyke Marsh Restoration Project Underway In Memoriam 2 BY GLENDA BOOTH Coastal Design and Construction, Restoring A Stream 2 Inc., the Dyke Marsh restoration contrac- tor, started the second phase of Dyke President’s Message 3 Marsh restoration in early fall, putting in marine mattresses for the base of a rock sill just north of the breakwater. The sill, GWMP Safety Study 4 built in an elongated horseshoe design, will have gaps so that water and aquatic Two New GWMP Staff 6 organisms will flush in and out with the tides. The breakwater, which replicates the The breakwater and the sill will be removed protective promontory, is near- Volunteers Haul Trash 7 completed by December 31, 2019, say ing completion. Photo by Glenda Booth National Park Service and Corps of Engi- Meet the Plants 8 neers officials. For more information on restoration project, visit “Restoration” on why Dyke Marsh is disappearing and the our website, www.fodm.org. In Memoriam, John Andrews Restoring A Stream FODMer John Marshall Andrews, age 86, passed away In 2015, people on September 10, 2019. John had a special tie to Dyke became alarmed by Marsh that we described in our winter 2017 newsletter. sediments that turned He grew up near the marsh on H Street (New Alexan- west Dyke Marsh or- dria) and as a youngster, paddled in the marsh, using a five- angey-brown during gallon empty can as a lifesaver. He recalled that Dyke storms. FODM urged Marsh was “like the Ev- Fairfax County to ana- erglades” and lamented lyze and fix the prob- the loss of frogs and their lem, a severely eroded, spring calls, saying, “It stormwater outfall and makes me sad not to hear an area gouged out like The gouged out stormwater outfall in Mt. Vernon Park. them anymore. They a rugged canyon about were all over the whole one-half a mile upstream from west Dyke Marsh in Mount place. It was unbelieva- Vernon Park, in an unnamed, intermittent stream. Fairfax ble. I loved that. Spring County officials said that the eroded channel was 13 feet was coming.” John loved to hear frogs call- deep, over 50 feet wide and 200 feet long. John was born in ing, like this northern green In 2016 and 2017, the county started a stream restora- Alexandria on October 4, frog (Lithobates clamitans tion project to stop the erosion 1932. An engineer by melanota). Males have a and stabilize the area. Today, rubber-band-like “twang” call. talent and training, he the restored area has a heavy graduated from Virginia Tech, joined his father, Thomas, vegetative cover of native and brother in the construction business and worked largely plants, both planted and natu- in marine construction. A licensed tugboat captain and rally occurring, that are at- crane operator, he helped build the Belle Haven Marina tracting native insects, includ- with his father and owned and managed it for many years ing multiple species of butter- after his father's death. He was a resident of the River Tow- flies. Even in a dry Septem- ers Condominiums. ber 2019, some areas were He loved sharing his photos and memories of Dyke moist and spongy and a few Marsh and the local area from the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. cattails have appeared. There He helped put in plants in FODM’s native plant area. Rock steps and pools are also plants like Bidens, installed slow the stream. winterberry, wood ferns, false “As important as it is to change the lightbulb, it’s nettle and greenbrier and trees like sumacs, sassafrass, tulip much more important to change the policies.” poplars and white oaks. “It is now a wetland complex in- - Former Vice President Al Gore, MSNBC, Sep.19, 2019 stead of an outfall channel,” remarked Meghan Noe Fellow with Fairfax County, on September 10, 2019 walk. Friends of Dyke Marsh Board of Directors Editor: Dorothy McManus President Board Members Glenda Booth Assistant Editor: 703-765-5233 Ed Eder (Past President) T. D. Hobart Vice President Bob Veltkamp (Membership) Friends of Dyke Marsh Ned Stone P.O. Box 7183 703-768-5441 David Barbour Secretary Alexandria, VA 22307 Deborah Hammer Dorothy McManus (Marsh Wren) [email protected] 703-960-3643 Laura Sebastianelli Visit our website at Treasurer www.fodm.org Pat Salamone Dixie Sommers or on Facebook.com 703-329-1748 Copyright © 2019, The Board members can receive email at [email protected]. The Marsh Wren is a quarterly Friends of Dyke Marsh, Inc. publication of the Friends of Dyke Marsh, Inc., a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization. Let- All rights reserved. ters and submissions to The Marsh Wren are welcome. Send them to the address at left. Special thanks to Duncan Hobart for managing our website (www.fodm.org). 2 The Marsh Wren ☼ Fall 2019 President’s Message Glenda C. Booth, President, Friends of Dyke Marsh We are often reminded that region,” says the the Dyke Marsh Wildlife Pre- National Audubon serve offers something for every- Society’s Field one. Guide to the Mid- On October 1, eight third-graders Atlantic. and four moms from Girl Scout Troop 53003 came to Dyke “Migration evolved Marsh to learn about water quality. They eagerly collected as a way for birds trash, especially small pieces, along the shoreline. On the to exploit resources same afternoon, Dr. Edd Barrows brought ten Georgetown that are seasonally University forest ecology students to Dyke Marsh. abundant and avoid Dr. Barrows, Professor of Biology, explored the flora, times when or plac- fauna, processes and ecosystems of Dyke Marsh’s flood- es where resources plain forests. At the bridge past the “dogleg” turn, he ex- are scarce or weath- A rough green snake (Opheodrys plained zonation of er is very harsh,” aestivus) sniffed with its tongue. vegetation. Spot- wrote Paul Ker- Photo by Glenda Booth ting a rough green linger in How Birds snake, he said that Migrate. Some say that with less submerged aquatic vege- snakes use their tation, waterfowl numbers may be low this year. With the tongues to smell new breakwater, we could see some uncommon species (photo, right). He perched or poking around the rocks. urged students to Kudos for Volunteers sniff a daddy long- George Washington Memorial Parkway Superintendent legs spider which Charles Cuvelier recently commended FODMers for their makes a repellent, volunteerism. As of October 3, FODMers gave 1,663 vol- Dr. Barrows said that about acetone scent. He unteer hours in 2019. Among other projects, these numbers 20,000 species of Archaea, Bacte- ria and Eucarya occur in Dyke said that humming- represent 88 hours of invasive species control, 108 hours for Marsh habitats Photo by G. Booth birds like the or- Lepidoptera and Odonata surveys, 155 hours for the breed- ange-yellow blos- ing bird survey and 128 hours for 39 bird walks. In 2018, som of jewelweed and that black swallowtail butterflies for the entire parkway, people volunteered 24,557 hours, nectar on plants in the parsley family. He discussed the em- which the National Park Service (NPS) values at $624,000. erald ash borer infestation that is killing ash trees, plus cat- Thank you, FODMers! In these difficult times, NPS needs tails, arrow arum, marsh mallows, fall asters and cedar trees us and we need to do our part. and how it’s all inter-related. Your Civic Duty Fall Migration Speaking of stepping up, please vote on November 5. Fall migration is still occurring and Dyke Marsh is a Virginians will elect the entire state legislature, both the stopover site for many species. “Nowhere in North Ameri- Senate and House of Delegates, as well as many local offi- ca are the annual migrations of birds, butterflies and dragon- cials.