Volume: 7 Issue: 1
Many Restoration Projects Underway Throughout Paint Branch Watershed
A number of restoration projects at various locations throughout the Paint Branch watershed are underway. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is conducting a multi-million dollar project to restore the Anacostia Watershed, which includes more than 60 projects in the Paint Branch watershed. The Montgomery County Department of Environmental Protection (MCDEP) is a partner with the Corps on these projects. MCDEP also has a number of its own restoration projects.
Last year the Corps completed the Gum Springs Parallel Pipe Project, in which they diverted the stormwater discharge from the sensitive Gum Springs tributary to the larger Main Stem of the Paint Branch. It also initiated three stormwater management projects, Tanglewood, Snowden's Mill I, and Snowden's Mill II.
Unfortunately, there were many problems with these projects. As a result of pressure from the Paint Branch Technical Team, the Corps is in the process of finding another contractor for this work. The Paint Branch Technical Team includes representatives from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (the resource manager), the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission (the landowner), the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, the Montgomery County Department of Environmental Protection, the Eyes of Paint Branch, and the Potomac-Patuxent chapter of Trout Unlimited.
The earthen embankments constructed last year at Snowden's Mill I and II did not pass inspection. These will need to be removed and then reconstructed. This activity should begin in a few weeks. The Corps is currently finalizing work at the Tanglewood site.
In addition, the COE is beginning the next phase of restoration projects, which involve significant in-stream construction. This work is on the main stem, between Fairland Road and Martin Luther King, Jr. Park. While we enthusiastically welcome the Corps’ major improvements in terms of streambank stabilization, we are concerned that restoration of aquatic habitat in this section of the stream is also needed. The Paint Branch Technical Team has also reiterated this need several times throughout the review process.
The Corps has responded positively to many of the concerns expressed by the Paint Branch Technical Team. However, we remain extremely concerned about the aquatic habitat restoration aspects of these projects.
Habitat restoration is difficult to get right, and the potential for damage is always present. Frequently, small changes in implementation can make the difference between successful habitat restoration, and what amounts to a well-intentioned but wasted effort. That is one reason why someone with fisheries expertise and first-hand experience with restoration of wild trout habitat needs to be in a leadership capacity, at least for the critical habitat sites. We have made it clear that the support of the Eyes of Paint Branch, the Potomac-Patuxent chapter of Trout Unlimited, and the Audubon Naturalist Society is contingent on this.
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Despite letters to Colonel Fiala, the Corps District Engineer, Congressman Al Wynn, and Senators Sarbanes and Mikulski, the Corps has not yet agreed to provide this expertise.
In addition to these projects, the Corps is also conducting a number of other projects concurrently. These include similar projects in the Northwest Branch watershed, Sligo Creek watershed, and at Lockridge Drive and Snowden's Mill I and II in the Paint Branch watershed. Given that the Corps is now more than a year behind schedule on the initial, simple, Paint Branch projects, we are concerned about the Corps' ability to properly manage the more difficult in-stream projects along with these four other concurrent projects.
In addition to all these restoration activities, MCDEP is also conducting a number of restoration projects in the Paint Branch watershed. MCDEP will be initiating construction of a stormwater management pond retrofit to control the runoff from approximately 70 acres of developed area in the upper Good Hope watershed. This is a particularly difficult project because it involves in-stream construction, water and sewer lines, and must be shoe-horned in among existing homes on three sides. This area drains to the primary wild trout spawning and nursery area, the Good Hope tributary, which is degrading due to in-channel erosion in the main spawning and nursery area.
MCDEP also has plans for two projects in the Gum Springs sub-watershed. One project involves in-stream construction to improve conditions in a number of ways, such as reducestreambank erosion and building habitat enhancements. The other MCDEP project in the Gum Springs sub-watershed involves retrofitting a badly needed stormwater pond in the lower part of the sub-watershed. This will be on parkland near the confluence of Gum Springs and the Main Stem. Construction access will be from near Fireside Drive.
With all this construction going on in highly sensitive areas, we need residents to be on the lookout for problems. If you see anything that looks out of the ordinary or have questions, please use the points of contact listed on the back cover to get this information to us.