A River Runs Through It: Saving the Anacostia River

Image source: Bill MacFarland, Blue Ridge Outdoors.

From Blue Ridge Outdoors:

A once-forgotten waterway flowing through the nation’s capital is now bringing communities together to help save it.

On most weekends at the historic Langston Golf Course in Washington, D.C., golf carts putter along while people swiftly swing their clubs. But on a Saturday this past May, eager volunteers gathered near the course’s 17th hole, laughing as they learned to use hand saws and machetes. They were removing a dense thicket of shrubs known as bush honeysuckle, clearing space for native plants critical for removing pollutants from soil and restoring the health of the nearby Anacostia River.

Among the volunteers, working with the Anacostia Watershed Society (AWS), are Kristina Vidal and her daughter Hazel Wartchow, who, for the past few years, have been helping the group remove invasive species.

Members of AWS have undertaken habitat renewal work since the organization was founded in 1989, with a focus on having people from diverse backgrounds engage with the river. This community engagement is critical to improving water quality and fostering a sense of ownership of and investment in the river’s health, according to AWS officials. And getting the community involved is an essential part of efforts to make the river—once in deep environmental peril—swimmable and fishable for the first time in decades.

“By providing opportunities for people to learn about the river, enjoy it, and work to restore it, local groups are promoting a sense of community stewardship that is vital to bringing the river back to health,” says Chris Williams, president of AWS.