Girl Scouts Meet with our Slow the Flow Team!

Local Girl Scout troop 4005 spent a recent troop meeting in Three Oaks Association learning about stormwater management. 

Scouts learn about stormwater management

Posters and handouts gave them insights into how stormwater can be harmful to our local streams, and, ultimately to the Chesapeake Bay. 

The group discussed various stormwater management techniques

Girls took home a handout card

The girls talked about a volunteer project: Installing storm drain markers in Three Oaks Association and other streets near their homes. 

• Storm drain markers help educate the public about our storm drain system. 
• In Montgomery County the water that enters a storm drain goes directly into our rivers. 
• This stormwater carries pollutants such as litter, pet waste, fertilizers, leaking auto fluids, or anything else that ends on the ground.  
• These pollutants go directly into our waterways, and ultimately into the Chesapeake Bay. 

The Girl Scout troop agreed to install storm drain markers sometime in the next couple of months. Watch our blog to see the finished results!

https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/water/volunteer/#marking

For more details on storm drain making and an application, go to:
https://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/dot-dir/resources/files/stormdrainapp.pdf

Storm Drain Marker (Courtesy: Montgomery County, MD Department of Environmental Protection)

Sample materials that the Slow the Flow grant team uses to illustrate stormwater management.

How stormwater moves from our homes to our streams (Courtesy: Montgomery County, MD Dept of Envrionmental Protection) 

Dry wells and rain gardens can capture stormwater (Courtesy: quinaultindiannation.com)

poster

Storm water problems are very noticeable during a rainstorm

Where does rain water go in your neighborhood?  The best way to find out is to take a walk outside during a storm. Put on your boots and raincoat and go see what happens!

In this first photo, you can look up at the hill from the Seven Oaks Park and Playground. The water is running down the steep hill because the ground is not porous enough to absorb the water. The result is erosion and the topsoil is carried down into a storm drain (between the two trees on the left side).

Hill above Seven Oaks Park & Playground

The fine particles of soil, called silt, go into the drain and end up in Sligo Creek. Silt is not beneficial to the stream, because it causes a cloudy plume, which blocks sunlight and kills vegetation.

This second photo shows the mud that collects at the bottom of the hill. The hard-packed earth does not absorb the water easily, and it sits on the low-lying sidewalk. The mud is made up partly of silt, some of which washes into the storm drain near the playground (in the center of the photo). The rest of the mud sits on the sidewalk, a nuisance to pedestrians. 

Sidewalk near Seven Oaks Park after a heavy rain

If you walk down the Three Oaks Association parking lot, you will see the water sweeping down the asphalt, picking up oils, pollutants, and trash on its way, until it reaches a storm drain. From there the water goes into a large pipe and gets dumped into Sligo Creek.

Three Oaks Association parking lot during a rain storm

Children are Eager Learners

It does not take much to show children how to be "all in" with environmental campaigns. 

On Earth Day several friends were talking in the Three Oaks Homeowners Association. We heard a voice behind us say, "Kids, there's another one." Turning around, we saw two children who quickly stopped in their tracks, bent down to pick up a single soda straw, and add it to their father's bag. 

It takes just a little time and energy to engage children and show them what is needed to improve our world. Thank you to all our neighbors who walk down Three Oaks Drive to enjoy Sligo Creek!   #SligoCreek

Picking up trash: Earth Day at Three Oaks Association on Three Oaks Drive

Friends of Sligo Creek (FOSC) Kiosk

Three Oaks Association homeowners are so lucky to live near Sligo Creek!  

Equally lucky is that we live near a terrific kiosk maintained by FOSC on the hiking trail at the footbridge between Colesville Road and Wayne Avenue near the intersection of Bennington Drive. This is where the Bennington Tributary runs into Sligo Creek.

Every month or so volunteers post animal facts, photos, poems, and nature commentary in the kiosk. There is usually information about upcoming events that relate to the environment and caring for our local Sligo Creek and the broader community. Check it out to see what gem is there this month!

FOSC Kiosk at Sligo Creek and the Bennington Drive Footbridge

Right now (to celebrate the April "Sweep the Creek" clean-up day)

you can enjoy a special drawing and poem. 

The drawing shows the water flowing down Sligo Creek

into the Anacostia River into the Potomac, and then into the Chesapeake Bay.  

Catch the poem: 

Trash that lands in Sligo Creek

Ends up in the Chesapeake.

Help pick it up without delay,

Before it flows into the Bay.

Poem and drawing that illustrate why trash in streams is wrong!

Going Native

Here's our entrance sign with cherry tree in full bloom.  Cherry trees are beautiful, but they're not native. Next time we'll landscape with a serviceberry, eastern redbud, dogwood, hawthorn, or wild plum. Our project is teaching us how to be better stewards of our environment

Montgomery County GreenFest

Members of our community attended GreenFest in Jesup Blair Park on May 5. GreenFest is the largest, annual enviromental festival in Montgomery County, MD. This community-building event gives residents, businesses, nonprofits, and neighbors a chance to enjoy exhibits, kids' activities, and workshops that are all focused on building community and improving our environment. This year's activities included: 

• Tips on lawn care, trees, bike repair and more!
• Tree-Climbing and Stream Maze for kids
• Dance performances by UpRooted Dance
• 100 exhibitors, including artisans and food trucks
• Electric vehicle and car show 

Slow the Flow project team members attended the festivities and saw booths by two of our partners, the Friends of Sligo Creek and the Montgomery County Department of Environmental Protection, who sponsors the RainScapes program that we support.

Every effort helps move us closer to a healthy watershed, rivers, and Chesapeake Bay. 

See who else was at GreenFest: http://montgomerycountygreenfest.org/exhibitors/

Chesapeake Foodscapes: edible, medicinal
and native plants

Friends of Sligo Creek

Montgomery County Dept of
Environmental Protection

promo materials from
Montgomery County DEP

Parking Lot Woes

A third site that we are looking is the center "Y" of our parking lot, which has the largest volume of storm water runoff of any site in our community. It would be an ideal place to collect storm water if we can identify a way to redirect the water into the ground rather than the storm drains. One thought we have is to replace the grass in the green areas around the parking lot with deep-rooted conservation landscaping. This would allow the parking lot runoff to flow into the loose soil, where the plants could soak it up. The challenges here are that the grassy areas are not large and they are limited in how much water they could absorb. We would also have to work around utilities and water lines across some of the green sections. Lastly, a flood of rain water might harm trees that are already planted in those green areas. We are consulting with an environmental engineer and experienced landscape contractors to leverage their critical expertise as we explore the options for storm water remediation in our community.

Storm drain that takes in a large volume of water

Parking lot "y" with green space

Parking lot in the rain, water
flowing into the storm drain