Dozens of volunteers will break out the work gloves and garden shears this Saturday (Sept. 14) to eliminate invasive plants around the “LOVE” sign by the Washington & Old Dominion Trail in Vienna.
The cleanup will clear the way for a native plant meadow that its organizer, the nonprofit Sustainability Matters, hopes will spawn similar beautification efforts all along the 45-mile-long regional trail.
Andrea McGimsey, who took over as the nonprofit’s executive director in January, conceived of the Making History Bloom project based on her past experience with historic site preservation and Sustainability Matters’ flagship Making Trash Bloom initiative, which restores landfills like Fairfax County’s I-66 Transfer Station with native pollinators and wildlife habitat.
She proposed the idea to NOVA Parks Executive Director Paul Gilbert during her first week on the job, and the Community Foundation for Northern Virginia, an Oakton-based charitable organization, contributed to the initial funding.
While there have been Boy Scouts projects and other efforts to grow wild meadows along the W&OD Trail, the Vienna LOVE sign site at 413 Center Street North will be the first in the new partnership between Sustainability Matters and NOVA Parks, the agency that owns the trail.
“We decided that the W&OD Trail would be a great place to start, because it’s considered the crown [jewel] of the park system in Northern Virginia, and has over 3 million visitors a year,” McGimsey told FFXnow. “[It] also, honestly, has a big invasives problem…It’s not the very first wild meadow, but this is the first effort to really work on the whole trail, and we’re hoping this is the first of many to come.”
Scheduled for 3-6 p.m., this Saturday’s invasives pull has gotten about 30 registered volunteers so far, including workers from PBS, the Tysons-based software company NT Concepts and the Arlington environmental consulting firm Enhesa, according to McGimsey.
Many participants have been trained by Fairfax County through its Invasive Management Area Program, which enlists volunteers to restore and maintain parkland. Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn is also expected to join.
Show your LOVE for the @WODTrail! Remove invasives near the LOVE sign along the trail on Saturday, Sept. 21. You’ll be preparing the site to plant a first-ever native meadow there as part of a joint project between @smattersva and @NOVA_Parks
Register: https://t.co/PCeMQKAG0Q pic.twitter.com/MjEq9z8O2E
— Supervisor Walter Alcorn (@WalterAlcornFFX) September 17, 2024
Anyone in the general public can join, though Sustainability Matters encourages all volunteers to register in advance since more preparation details will be sent to those on the email list.
According to the event page, participants are advised to wear long sleeves and pants, closed-toed shoes and a hat if it’s sunny. They should also bring water, work gloves, bug spray and sunscreen. A limited supply of spades, clippers and other gardening supplies will be provided, but those who have their own should bring them.
The actual plant pulling will take about two hours, followed by optional drinks and socializing at Caboose Brewing Company and Tavern (520 Mill Street NE) nearby.
Volunteers will focus on two designated spots near the LOVE sign, extending into the Town of Vienna’s Northside Park: one that will be completely cleared to make way for the planned native meadow and another where invasive species will be pulled selectively to give existing native plants a chance to thrive.
With help from Jack Monsted, an assistant curator for the State Arboretum of Virginia and member of Sustainability Matters’ technical advisory board, the nonprofit has identified at least nine different invasive species in the area that it hopes to remove, including stiltgrass, porcelainberry, Japanese honeysuckle and ground ivy.
“What’s happening is these invasive plants, they’re taking up the room in our parks where…if we had native plants instead, the wildlife would flourish,” McGimsey said. “So, it’s a real problem for our native ecosystem.”
The native meadow will be seeded early next year, likely around Valentine’s Day in February. McGimsey describes Sustainability Matters’ seeding events as “very joyful” affairs where people come dressed up with butterfly wings and dance on the meadow site to push the seeds into the ground.
While future meadow sites haven’t been identified yet, the Rotary Club of Herndon-Reston has shown interest in working on a part of the W&OD Trail in the Town of Herndon that it already maintains with litter cleanups and other work, McGimsey says.
Sustainability Matters also hopes to undertake projects in Loudoun County, especially around the data centers that have proliferated in Ashburn, and there are plans to work with local schools and community centers on educational events.
“We’re hoping to do a lot more cool things like that, so this is just the first step,” McGimsey said.
