The newsletter of the Greater Washington National Parks

Volume the2/Number 2 Spring 2007 Current Georgetown Waterfront Park – A Vision Fulfi lled

Regional Director’s Corner In January, the vision of over 30 years to develop the Georgetown Waterfront as part of the Park System of the This issue of the Current is Nation’s Capital was realized when construction began dedicated to our partners and on the fi rst phase of Georgetown Waterfront Park for the the partnerships that exist National Park Service. When fi nished in Spring 2008, this between our park staff s and a will be the largest new park in the District of Columbia variety of private organizations since Constitution Gardens was completed in 1976. and friends groups whose assistance greatly benefi ts The new park will create the vital fi nal link in a 225-mile contiguous green the work of our Greater space along the Potomac River from Mt. Vernon, VA to Cumberland, MD Washington National Parks. and provide local, regional and international visitors with a magnifi cent urban park. The fi rst phase includes open lawns and informal gardens, For example, the contributions environmentally engineered bio-edges that preserve native plants and of the National Cherry Blossom enhance water quality, new pathways for walkers, joggers and hikers, a Festival, Inc. are many and bike path connecting Rock Creek Park with the Capital Crescent Trail, a varied, with both organizations’ eff orts complementing the labyrinth to encourage refl ection and contemplation and granite overlooks work of the other. We know that provide scenic river views and historic images of the Georgetown this from our longstanding Waterfront. Designed by the international landscape architecture relationship, from visitors who fi rm, Wallace Roberts & Todd, this partnership project will reclaim an tell us they like what they see industrialized site along the Potomac Waterfront between Washington and from the ever-growing Harbour and the Key Bridge and completely rebuild the existing small park programs made available to the at the foot of Wisconsin Avenue. public during this spectacular time. The planning, design and construction of this new park has been a partnership among the National Park Service, the National Park The Alice Ferguson Foundation Foundation, the community and the District of Columbia. This nearly $18 partnership clearly benefi ts Where you are never far from history and nature from never far you are Where million project has been achieved without the expenditure of any National our high school students Park Service funds. About $12 million was raised in private donations, from this region, and has also lease revenues from the former parking lot and District of Columbia helped produce improved environmental health of the transportation appropriations to build the fi rst phase of the park from Potomac River from its annual Wisconsin Avenue to Key Bridge. spring cleanup, with everyone the benefi ciary. A second partnership has been launched to raise another $6 Visitors expect the NPS to be to $7 million over the next the stewards and protectors of 18 months for construction the substantial public treasures

Greater Washington National Parks Greater Washington of Phase II – the Wisconsin we all enjoy here. Our eff orts Avenue Terminus. This will are enhanced and fulfi lled form the lively centerpiece of through the help of our many the park and includes its signature elements – the interactive fountain and partners. We invite you to learn amphitheatre created by a pergola and river stair for viewing the fi nish line about them and join in! of the shell races – making this park a unique landmark on the Potomac Waterfront. Joseph M. Lawler by Sally Blumenthal, Deputy Associate Regional Director Regional Director for Lands, Resources, and Planning , NCR, [email protected] National Capital Region

IN THIS ISSUE: • Partnership Project to Restore Catoctin Aqueduct. • Center for Urban Ecology Promotes Stewardship through Partnership. • Music, Research, Restoration Enhanced — Antietam National Battlefi eld. www.nps.gov 2 Greater Washington National Parks Newsletter

Partnership Off ers Unique Opportunities

As throughout our area, the northwestern portion of the Taking the oath of offi ce began this National Capital Region is an visitor’s presidential event. area rich in American history, Middle school students participate in the Catoctin Center’s Save Our History project on a tour of a historic with historic sites and stories African American church in Sharpsburg, MD. Volunteers help spanning the breadth of our nation’s development. make “President for a Day” The Catoctin Center for Regional Studies in Frederick, MD, has been helping the National Park Service discover and interpret this history for the American people. The NPS and representatives from six local parks signed a Memorandum of Agreement with Frederick Community College (FCC) Approximately in 1998 to create the Center. FCC houses and helps staff the Center, and the NPS “loans” a historian 1,300 visitors to work part-time. The Catoctin Center collaborates with local NPS units, regional historical explored the White House organizations, local and state government agencies, schools, and other groups to research and Visitor Center and disseminate local history and culture. It off ers educational opportunities for students of all ages, and were “sworn into helps foster the exchange of information between the NPS and the public to further the appreciation offi ce as President of the history of the region. for a day” on Presidents Day 2007 with the help of seven The Catoctin Center sponsors conferences and workshops, conducts research National Park Service rangers on a wide variety of local historical topics, off ers classes, fi eld trips, and training and 11 volunteers from opportunities, promotes preservation of historic sites, and publishes an award- President’s Park. During winning regional history magazine, Catoctin History. The NPS benefi ts from this this special programming, partnership in many ways. The Center provides training for the NPS, such as visitors of all ages had an a workshop on “Slavery and the Civil War” for local NPS park historians. It opportunity to sample some of the sights, sounds, activities features NPS authors and local NPS sites in Catoctin History, highlights park and personages that have history in Center-sponsored conferences and publications, and produces helped make the White House studies for the NPS. For more information, visit the Catoctin Center’s America’s most historical website at http://catoctincenter.frederick.edu residence. by Susan Trail,Superintendent, Monocacy National Battlefi eld, [email protected] Adults and children chatted with Abraham Lincoln about his decision to preserve the Union during the Civil War, children pulled up a chair at First Lady Dolley Madison’s dining table and learned how Partnership Project to she saved the portrait of George Washington when the British Restore Catoctin Aqueduct burned the White House in 1814. Throughout the day all had a chance to use a quill Preparations are partnership between the C&O pen, sit for a portrait, write underway for Canal National Historical Park their own presidential legacy, restoration of and the Catoctin Aqueduct play period games, design their the C&O Canal’s Restoration Fund, Inc., (CAR own “White House china,” historic Catoctin Fund). The CAR Fund is the deliver a presidential speech, Aqueduct, which park’s fundraising partner and and play the “Who wants to be carries the Canal has committed to raising the President” game. over Catoctin Creek at mile funds necessary to complete mark 51.5. The Aqueduct’s the project. Visit www. Park staff and volunteers are restoration is necessary as two CatoctinAqueduct.org for more vital to the success of this of the 139-year-old information. program, helping facilitate Catoctin Aqueduct’s Top: Aqueduct circa 1970s. Bottom: opportunities for visitors to three arches collapsed Catoctin Creek is Original cut granite stones recently make their own intellectual and in October 1973. where 19th century recovered by C&O Canal staff. emotional connections with the Fortunately, transportation titans, stories of the White House and hundreds of the C&O Canal Company The Catoctin Aqueduct was President’s Park. original cut granite and the B&O Railroad, central to the Potomac River stones and several competed in 1832-34 to transportation corridor that by John Stanwich, linked the nation’s capital and its Site Manager, segments of concurrently build parallel nearby ports of Alexandria and President’s Park, wrought iron railing are being stone structures to convey Georgetown with citizens and [email protected] recovered in this project, which their respective modes of is expected to be completed in transportation across a major goods above the confl uence of spring 2009. tributary of the Potomac River, the Potomac and Shenandoah with the canal on an aqueduct Rivers. This ambitious $3.5 million and the railroad on a nearby by John Noel, C&O Canal National project is a community-wide viaduct. Historic Park, [email protected] Greater Washington National Parks Newsletter 3

Partners & Antietam National Battlefi ed National Mall & Memorial Parks Music, Research, Partners Assist National Mall Restoration Enhanced National Mall & Memorial Parks Friends continues its partnership with local Park partnerships Business Improvement Districts include the (BIDs), including the Downtown and Catoctin Mountain Park “Salute to Golden Triangle BIDs to enhance the Park Partners Achieve Results Independence” downtown parks by replacing benches with the and lights, supporting fountain repairs and Catoctin Mountain Park staff work Maryland Symphony, the augmenting trash pick-up. Agreements with the closely with a variety of partners. Memorial Illumination Trust for the National Mall and new partnership A 35-year relationship with the with the American development with the Korean War Veterans Appalachian and Catoctin Districts Professional Business Association, USA, Inc., to support memorial and of the Boy Scouts of America of the Women’s Association Illumination ceremony park revitalization eff orts are underway. Work National Capital Area Council has and interpretive at Antietam NB. continues to strengthen current relationships resulted in major work projects in the park as events with the National Museum of Civil through development of a new fund-raising well as a national accessibility award. Friends War Medicine. The Catoctin Center for agreement with longtime partner, Ford’s of Big Hunting Creek support the protection Regional Studies and the Washington County Theatre Society. of trout habitat. The Tourism Council of Free Library assist the park with research Frederick County and Frederick Historic Sites projects. The Western Maryland Interpretive Consortium support tourism and marketing Association provides educational opportunities eff orts in the county. for visitors and the Save Historic Antietam Harpers Ferry National Historical Park Foundation assists in the restoration of the NAACP helps Harpers Ferry Battlefi eld Landscape. Center for Urban Ecology Harpers Ferry NHP’s partnership with the West Virginia NAACP is Stewardship through Partnership National Capital Parks-East vital to the protection of the park and promotion of its history. Before The Urban AWS Helps Restore Wetlands the Murphy Farm was purchased, Ecology The Anacostia Watershed Society the West Virginia NAACP submitted Research (AWS) is an integral partner in a resolution, passed at the National NAACP Learning restoring the Anacostia River Convention, to protect this historical land. Alliance Watershed. AWS is constructing They partnered with the park to present (UERLA) and re-vegetating the tidal marshes the Niagara Movement Celebration and are partnered with the within Anacostia Park, NCP-East. working to protect and expand the park George Washington Wild rice, once abundant along the river, has boundaries in Maryland and Virginia. Memorial Parkway, all but vanished. AWS and its volunteers, many the C&O Canal NHP, of whom are school and college-age students, and The Nature are helping to return wild rice (Anacostia Conservancy for Volunteer scientists genotype) to the river fringe with the goal to Wolf Trap National Park the Potomac River hard at work during the re-vegetate the wetlands. AWS also installs and for the Performing Arts Gorge BioBlitz Potomac Gorge BioBlitz. maintains goose exclosure fencing to protect in June 2006. Wolf Trap Foundation: newly planted wetlands. This activity attracted more than 150 volunteer Performance Partner experts, who conducted intensive surveys of understudied biological organisms. During Wolf Trap has been co-managed since 2007, UERLA will join Rock Creek Park and George Washington Memorial Parkway 1971 through a unique partnership National Geographic Society for a Rock Creek Where Partnerships Abound between the National Park Service BioBlitz on May 18-19. and the Wolf Trap Foundation for The Potomac Appalachian Trail Club the Performing Arts. The Wolf has co-maintained the Potomac Trap Foundation, a private, not-for- Heritage Trail (PHT) with GWMP for profi t corporation founded at the request of Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail over 20 years. The PHT is a 10-mile- the Department of Interior, is responsible for Students Assist Trail Planning long foot trail which extends from artistic programming, ticketing, public relations Theodore Roosevelt Island to the and marketing, educational programs, and Potomac American Legion Bridge. Another fundraising. The NPS and Foundation work Heritage volunteer group, the Friends of Dyke Marsh, together to create a seamless, live performance National is dedicated to preservation of and public experience for all patrons. Scenic Trail education about Dyke Marsh, the largest partnerships freshwater tidal marsh in the Washington continue to Metropolitan Area. Visit www.patc.net or grow through inter- www.fodm.org for more information. agency planning and Manassas National Battlefi eld Park coordination, volunteer Park, Partners, Horses Benefi t contributions, and Trail Volunteers maintain many Rock Creek Park Manassas segment segments of the Potomac Partners Help Restoration Effort National designations. Heritage National Scenic Trail. Battlefi eld Students The Friends of Peirce Mill is Park enjoys and faculty at the University of Maryland’s dedicated to the restoration of Peirce a 20-year Landscape Architecture program helped Mill, helping with many projects, partnership develop a Fort Circle Parks greenway including the Historic Structures with the Battlefi eld concept plan. To support development Report. Tangible results include Equestrian Society and management, the Northern Virginia which maintains and beam and column replacement Historic ride. Regional Commission and Virginia Dept. of within the Mill and the development improves the park’s 25 Conservation and Recreation developed a plan of plans to restore the water wheel system. miles of horse trails. Society members also to guide Trail projects in Virginia. Potomac Friends of Rock Creek Environment (FORCE) donate thousands of hours annually through Heritage Trail Association volunteers have is a partner that promotes a healthy and trail improvements. The park and Prince helped local park managers with Trail segment sustainable Rock Creek Watershed and William County Police have an agreement construction in Loudoun County’s linear park provides volunteers, including help with where offi cers use park horses to patrol system, in Piscataway Park and in Nanjemoy removal of massive amounts of debris along events and pay a modest donation to defray Special Resource Management Area. Rock Creek in summer 2006. horse upkeep expenses. Upcoming Events For GWNP event information, call 202-619-7222

National Cherry Blossom Festival National Park Week March 31 - April 15, 2007 April 22 - April 29, 2007 Events throughout Washington, D.C. You are invited to experience your The National Cherry Blossom Festival® is an annual 16-day, city-wide event featuring America by visiting one or more of your more than 150 international cultural performances and over 90 other special events Greater Washington National Parks including sporting events, arts & crafts demonstrations and much more! For more (GWNP) during this year’s celebration of information, visist www.nps.gov/nacc/cherry. National Park Week. Renew your passion and commitment to the special resources Festival highlights include: protected by the NPS. Hike, bike, tour, • Cherry Blossom Parade, April 14, 10:00 a.m., 7th - 17th Streets, N.W., on Constitution Ave. volunteer, and explore a GWNP. For more • Japanese Stone Lantern Lighting Ceremony, April 18, 2:30 p.m., 17th & Independence Ave., S.W. information, contact 202-619-7222.

Ranger-led highlights include: Memorial Day Events • Bloomin’ Junior Ranger activities at the Ranger Activity Tent near the entrance to the FDR Monday, May 28 Memorial, 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., daily. • Cherry Blossom walking tours along the Tidal Basin, daily, every hour and a half beginning at 10:00 Memorial Day is a time to remember the a.m., with the last walk departing at 5:30 p.m. Meet rangers at the FDR Memorial entrance. U.S. men and woman who lost their lives • Lantern Walks along the Tidal Basin, Saturday, Sunday, and Wednesday evenings throughout the serving their country. Help celebrate festival, 8:00 p.m. Meet at the Tidal Basin Paddleboat Pavilion. and honor these hereos by attending • Cherry Blossom bicycle tours, Saturdays and Sundays, 1:00 p.m., starting at the Jeff erson Memorial, one of many GWNP Memorial Day plaza area. Bring your own bike, helmet. events. Wreath-layings, concerts, speeches, bell ringing, and a parade are Make sure you visit the NPS Information Tent located on Independence Avenue just west of just a few of the planned activities. For 15th Street for up-to-date information on Festival activities and services. more information, contact 202-619-7222.

Memorial Day Potomac River Watershed Cleanup ceremony at Saturday & Sunday, March 31 - April 1, 9:00 a.m. - 12 noon the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on To fi nd a location near you, visit www.potomaccleanup.org the National or call the Alice Ferguson Foundation at 301-292-6665. Mall.

National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior

National Capital Region 1100 Ohio Drive, S.W. Washington, DC 20242

The Current is published in partnership with: Eastern National National Mall & Memorial Parks National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior

Where you are never far from history and nature history from never far you are Where National Cherry Blossom Festival March 31 - April 15, 2007 EXPERIENCE YOUR AMERICA™ Greater Washington National Parks Greater Washington