SINCE 1976 THE FRIENDS OF DYKE MARSH SUMMER 2015 What Is a Healthy Forest? Challenges Include Invasive Aliens and Global Warming Join us on September 16, 7:30 p.m., when Joe Marx will discuss what a healthy Mid-Atlantic forest might look like, whether the pre-settlement forest was in fact healthy, and what chance a healthy forest would have in our era of invasive FODM Quarterly Meeting aliens and global warming. Wednesday, September 16, at Definitions of forest health vary 7:30 p.m., Huntley Meadows greatly along a scale from total human Park, Norma Hoffman Visitor exclusion to total human management. Center, 3701 Lockheed Blvd., Although the Mid-Atlantic states were Alexandria, VA 22306. Phone blanketed with a largely deciduous forest Scenic view of the George Washington 703-768-2525. Free to all. at the time of European contact, the abo- National Forest. Photo by Bob Veltkamp. riginal peoples manipulated this forest to Calendar of Events a much wider extent than is commonly Field Studies program sponsored by the August 29 - 10 a.m., Pollina- realized. Today, many in the natural histo- Graduate School USA and the Audubon tor Walk; details, see page 5. ry community hope that the remaining Naturalist Society. October 24 - 10 a.m., Fall Col- Mid-Atlantic forestland can be preserved The meeting is cosponsored by the ors Walk; details, see page 5. in a healthy condition. What should we American Horticultural Society, the Po- November 18 - 7:30 p.m., Fall aim for? What is the right balance be- towmack Chapter of the Virginia Native FODM Quarterly Meeting; tween combating alien organisms and Plant Society, the Fairfax Chapter of Vir- LoriAnne Burnette on nature’s letting natural succession run its course? ginia Master Naturalists and the Fairfax exquisite timing, phenology. What will a seemingly inevitable global County Tree Commission. It will be at the warming likely do to the composition of Huntley Meadows Park Visitor Center. If our forests? you use a GPS device to find the park, Mr. Marx is an instructor in geology enter the park’s address, 3701 Lockheed CONTENTS and forest ecology in the Natural History Blvd., Alex., VA, not the park’s name. Iraqi Visitors to DM 2 Marsh Restoration Update President’s Message 3 The National Park Service's (NPS) permits before start- George Washington Memorial Parkway ing construction of Ground Beetles of DM 4 office is entering into an interagency the first phase, the agreement with the Baltimore District of breakwater on the the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (COE) southern end of the Pumpkin Ash Project 5 to begin the design work to restore Dyke marsh to replicate Marsh. NPS Washington, D.C., regional the promontory Plants of Dyke Marsh 6 office officials expect to sign the agree- removed by the ment with the COE by August 14, 2015. dredgers. Once The COE will start the 35 percent design permits are ob- New FODM Website 7 of the promontory and containment cells tained, construction Breakwater (orange in the fall of 2015 and COE officials ex- will take around two line) is a top priority. pect that the design work will take 12 years. The con- Least Bitterns 8 months to complete. Once the design is struction schedule will depend, in part, on completed, NPS will have to get several the donation of appropriate fill material. Iraqi Scientists Come to Dyke Marsh In Memoriam - Dr. David Johnston “We are advocates for Long-time FODMer Dr. David the environment in Iraq Johnston passed away on July 26, and especially marshes. 2015, at age 88. Dr. Johnston served We support the protection on FODM's Advisory Board and au- of the environment," said thored a valuable compendium of Sadiq AL-maliki, Chief studies and data about the Dyke Engineer in the Iraqi Marsh Wildlife Preserve (pictured, Prime Minister’s Office right). After serving for over 40 years during an April 14 visit to in many distinguished positions, in the preserve. "Our goal is NPS’s Brent Steury guides retirement Dr. Johnston focused on the same as yours, to re- Iraqi visitors in Dyke Marsh. historical ornithology. According to the Washington Post, turn some places to their Photo by Glenda Booth. he published or edited seven books, including A Guide to original condition.” He Bird Finding in Virginia, Virginia's Endangered Species, was part of an eight-member Iraqi delegation of engineers, The History of Ornithology in Virginia and Ecology and hydrologists, geologists, botanists and other scientists who Conservation of Neotropical Migrant Landbirds. He au- wanted to learn if the restoration of the marsh has any les- thored around 100 articles in peer-reviewed journals on or- sons for Iraq. nithology, ecology, endangered species and history of natu- In the 1990s, former Iraqi Prime Minister Saddam Hus- ral history. He received his Ph. D. from the University of sein ordered that the country’s marshes in Basrah and Dhi California, Berkeley, in 1954. FODM greatly appreciates Qar provinces be drained and that dikes be built on some of Dr. Johnston's many contributions. Dr. Johnson supervised the Tigris River’s tributaries. Iraq's wetlands, once the site the work of FODMer Sandy Spencer who wrote her master's of the Mesopotamian civilization, are of worldwide renown. thesis on the marsh wrens of Dyke Marsh. “The Iraqi Marshlands constitute the largest wetland ecosys- tem in the Middle East,” notes the United Nations Environ- Generous Friends of Dyke Marsh ment Programme’s website. The Friends of Dyke Marsh appreciate several recent generous donations. Members of the congregation of the “The nation behaves well if it treats the natural Mount Vernon Unitarian Church provided a portion of their resources as asset which it must turn over to the June offerings as part of their "Share the Plate" program. next generation increased, and not impaired, in Alexandria Earth Champs, an organization that disbanded, value.” --- Theodore Roosevelt, 1907 donated their remaining funds to FODM. Board member Jessica Strother donated a kayak and two paddles to FODM. Thank you all for your generosity. Editor: Friends of Dyke Marsh Board of Directors Dorothy McManus Assistant Editor: President - Glenda Booth ………………...………..... 703-765-5233, [email protected] T. D. Hobart Vice President - Ned Stone …………………………. 703-768-5441, [email protected] Editorial address: Secretary - Dorothy McManus (Marsh Wren) ….……..… 703-960-3643, [email protected] Friends of Dyke Marsh Treasurer - Robert Smith ………………..…………. 703-684-7041, [email protected] P.O. Box 7183 Ed Eder (Past President) ……………………………….. 703-360-7994, [email protected] Alexandria, VA 22307 Kurt Gaskill (Bird Walks) ...……………………… 703-768-2172, [email protected] [email protected] Bob Veltkamp (Membership) …………..…………...…. 703-768-1650, [email protected] John Perry ………………………………………...…….. 703-329-1646, [email protected] Visit our website at Larry Cartwright (Breeding Bird Survey) ……...…. 703-941-3142, [email protected] www.fodm.org Pat Salamone ………..………...………….. 703-329-1748, [email protected] or on Facebook.com Trudi Hahn ……………..……………………………. 703-683-9009, [email protected] Jessica Strother …………....…………………….. 703-309-7201, [email protected] Copyright © 2015, The Katherine Wychulis ....…………………………….………………….. [email protected] Friends of Dyke Marsh, Inc. All rights reserved. The Marsh Wren is a quarterly publication of the Friends of Dyke Marsh, Inc., a nonprofit Printed on recycled paper 501(c) (3) organization. Letters and submissions to The Marsh Wren are welcome. Send them to the editorial address above. Board members too, can receive mail at this address. Special thanks to Duncan Hobart for managing our website (www.fodm.org), and to Paula Sullivan and Ed Eder for their photography contributions to The Marsh Wren and website. 2 The Marsh Wren ☼ Summer 2015 President’s Message Glenda C. Booth, President, Friends of Dyke Marsh Dyke Marsh will soon be a regional decline, ablaze in autumn hues and birds' but it certainly has fall migration will be in full been exacerbated swing. Be sure to look for mi- by the acceleration grating shorebirds at low tide. of erosion in the In July, we introduced some out-of-state Auduboners south marsh. from Seattle, Washington, Phoenix, Arizona, and Ann Ar- More on this sad bor, Michigan to Dyke Marsh. Larry Cartwright shared story later. enticing factoids like these: tree swallows nested in the We have boom of a sailboat, purple martins nested in a mast, barn completed major These viceroy butterflies nectar on swallows nested under the docks and northern rough- "housekeeping," the poison water hemlock’s white winged swallows nested in a boat's exhaust pipe! We including updat- floral clusters. Photo by Ed Eder. craned for sightings of the least bittern, encouraged by Ed ing our bylaws Eder who has had spotted and photographed these beautiful, and articles of incorporation and preparing a workplan with elusive birds many times this spring. See page eight of this NPS. We are upgrading our website and online membership issue for Ed’s article. and donation systems. Thank you for attending or providing Ed told the group that the poison water hemlock near your proxy for our May meeting. Thank you, Duncan Ho- the boardwalk is not the same hemlock that Socrates swal- bart and Bob Veltkamp and the National Environmental lowed, but it is poisonous to humans nonetheless. The plant Education Foundation for our website improvements. We has white, umbrella-like floral clusters and blooms in late had robust turnouts for our spring Raptor Rapture and Alice summer and early fall (see photo above, right). Often mis- Ferguson trash cleanup. We tabled at Gum Springs Com- taken for Queen Anne's lace, it is a host plant for the black munity Day on June 20 and hosted students from the T.C.