Volunteers at work, from above

Thanks to volunteer and garden neighbor Mike Mills for providing these great photos, taken from the roof at Velocity during our first volunteer work day!

We've weathered the storm

Once the last bands of Hurricane Irene cleared out yesterday, I headed down to the Capitol Riverfront to assess how our garden fared. Weather statements suggested that recently planted trees were at a high risk of being uprooted, so I was mostly concerned about the overall condition of the garden, and with a secondary interest in seeing how well the space captured rain water. National Airport officially received 3.83" of rain on Saturday and Sunday morning, and wind gusts reached up to 60 mph (with sustained winds briefly up to 41 mph).

I'm pleased to report that all the trees are in place, and looking great. The grass has come in nicely around the berms, and it's an attractive space.

The rain garden (swale) sections had all taken on water, with most of them still holding water and the other two quite soft. The plants there haven't taken off quite as well but there is some grass and other greenery growing and keeping the soil porous.

The two rain gardens at the eastern side are still holding onto water longer than they should. We'll assess later this week and work to fix it.

The overall site didn't show any signs of erosion or major runoff into the street and storm drains. That's great news! Some of our remaining materials are still on the paved lot and got blown around. We'll get that cleaned up when we are there later this week.

And as an aside, I also got to take a look at our new sign, identifying the project and giving passersby a quick education about low-impact design, plus information about how to learn more. Thanks to Signs By Tomorrow in Springfield, Virginia, for the great work, and Norcross Wildlife Foundation for financial support.

We want to give you a tour too! Email dcchapter@surfrider.org to schedule one for your group.

Did any neighbors observe anything at the garden during the storm? Tell us what you saw in the comments.

Now Award Winning!

Our rain garden just received third place in the 2011 Greenscape Challenge, sponsored by Cali Bamboo! This is super exciting.

Here is an excerpt from the press release:

“We received a huge response for this contest which demonstrates that a lot of people are already taking steps to make a difference with their yards. We saw everything from the use of drought tolerant plants and permeable surfaces to expansive bamboo decking projects,” says Jeff Goldberg, CEO and President of Cali Bamboo. “It was fun to see the various projects submitted throughout the U.S. on our interactive map...”

Inspired by the Surfrider Foundation’s Ocean Friendly Gardens program, the contest asked participants to submit their sustainable landscaping projects. ...

“This was an ideal contest to raise awareness for our Ocean Friendly Gardens program and the issues surrounding ocean pollution. It provided great examples of how others can create an eco-friendly garden to reduce excessive watering, and we hope it will be a stepping stone to get others involved,” said Matt McClain, Surfrider Foundation’s Director of Marketing and Communications.

We won a $250 gift certificate from Cali Bamboo for green building materials. Thanks to all the volunteers to helped make it happen!

In the News

As I mentioned before, WAMU reporter Jessica Gould stopped by our garden work day on June 30, and did some interviews with volunteers. Her story aired on July 7! Read or listen to the story and see photos here.

June 30: Work Day Report

For all intents and purposes, we're done with the installation! Huzzah! Thanks to all the volunteers who came out to help over the three work days. We had great support from Surfrider members, neighbors in the Capitol Riverfront, and of course friends of the Stempers. What a tremendous accomplishment!

Last night a dozen volunteers finished the walkways and tidied up the rocks, while soaking up a beautiful summer evening. The grass is coming in nicely around the trees, and the trees are doing well.

Sometime next week, Justin and I will put down the seed for the swales, cover the remaining bits of filter fabric, and move the rest of the gravel off to the side. (We'll need it over the course of the summer, to fill in thin spots.)

Thanks to Jessica Gould from WAMU for stopping by last night, too. Hopefully you'll hear a story about our project on the radio in the near future.

Here's a photo of the site last fall, before work started:

And here's what it looks like now:

Great work, everyone! Now, we just need some visitors.

Barbara Ball, of College Park's REI store, takes it all in.

They're Alive! Tree Update

I mentioned the other day that five of the trees were looking sad, but we had faith that four would bounce back from the dry weather we've been having. Good news! All five have new growth!

Two of the birches have multiple green leaves at the top, as you can sort of see in this photo.

The third, the tree we thought might be dead, has tiny buds and a few new branches coming in.

The two maples that were pretty dried out have new branches too. We're very excited to see that we can in fact grow trees in a gravel lot, during a drought.

June 25: Work Day Report

Last Saturday we made significant progress in the garden. Another 30 folks came out to help--including Ward 6 Councilmember Tommy Wells, who paid a visit en route to his Ward 6 Family Fun Day at the Yards Park. Alicia Aleman got some video of the councilmember hard at work:

Since the trees and grass seed were planted at our first work day, Saturday's focus was on the swales, which were doing their job too well and holding on to the rain water. First we mixed in some sand to make the soil more porous. Then we leveled everything out to try to prevent puddling at the ends.

Brian Dalton mixes sand into a swale.

Meanwhile other volunteers laid rocks around the edges of the mounds. It really helped tie things together aesthetically, but really the rocks are there to hold filter fabric in place under the gravel walkways. Two birds with one (or a few hundred) stones, if you will.

Then we split into teams and laid the filter fabric along the walkways, and covered it with gravel. The existing surface of the site is rock, broken concrete and brick, and miscellaneous material. It's not easy to walk on, or very pretty to look at, hence the gravel over top. But if we just put the gravel straight on, it would sift to the bottom and the larger ugly material would rise to the top--think of a box of cereal.

ANC commish David Garber orders Councilmember Wells around.

We got partway through installing the walkways before calling it a day. But there is still work to be done! Please join us this Thursday evening, from 5 to 8 pm, as we finish up these walkways and tidy up. We hope to toast our accomplishment with celebratory food. If you can help, with a pizza donation, a grill, or in another way, please let us know!

A Note About the Maintenance

Some of the trees are looking pretty sad, we know. It's been hot and dry, especially the first week after they were planted (the most critical time). Surfrider has hired Chapel Valley to water everything three times a week, and at last check we think 4 of the 5 damaged trees will bounce back. We're keeping an eye on the fifth one, and may remove it or replace it.

The grass on the berms is coming in nicely, and the swales will be planted with wildflower seed mix this week. Those should both need little maintenance apart from watering.

It is a little ironic to hire a watering company for a rain garden. Typical DC summer weather--with regular afternoon thunderstorms--will hopefully return soon and take care of things for us. If you're in the neighborhood and have any questions or concerns about how things are looking, please feel free to email us.

June 12: Volunteer Work Day

Yesterday we had about 40 volunteers descend on the site to do the first round of installation of the garden. It was a fantastic day, not as hot as the previous week and good spirits all around. Many of our volunteers came from the Capitol Riverfront neighborhood--they were curious about what we were up to and excited to be a part of this new project.

Early in the morning, we were honored to have Gloria Almeyda, David Stemper's wife, join us briefly. Unfortunately she could not stay to greet the volunteers, but she wanted to do some work anyway. She helped shape one of the outer berms, and said it was meaningful because David had done anthropological work on the cultural significance of mounds in Ecuador. It's all connected, isn't it?

Barbara Ball, Outreach Specialist for REI's College Park store, and Gloria Almeyda

We were also thankful to have REI on hand. Barbara Ball, the outreach specialist for the College Park store and the woman who nominated our chapter for the grant to fund this whole thing, provided shade tents, chairs, snacks, and fluids for our hard-working volunteers. She also tended to our youngest activist, Owen!

Barbara and Owen

The volunteers started the day by shaping the berms and adding a layer of topsoil. 

Surfrider's Mike Childs and ANC 6D07 Commissioner David Garber load wheelbarrows with topsoil.

The trees were delivered shortly thereafter (thanks, Frager's!). We have 16 trees, heritage birch and red maple.

Before planting the trees, volunteers spread a wildflower seed mix over the topsoil, and then followed with a layer of erosion control matting to keep everything in place.

Matting in place, we dug out holes for the trees, and dropped them in, maples on the outer ring and birch on the interior.

It's not the easiest surface to work on--there is a lot of construction debris, so some folks spent a while looking for concrete chunks to pull out, and sometimes we enlisted a pickaxe to dig.

But once the trees were in, the garden really started to take shape!

After our work was done, many volunteers adjourned to Justin's Cafe for drinks and snacks to celebrate.

We didn't get it all done, though. Join us again on Saturday, June 25 for our second work day. We'll be planting the swales that day, and putting the finishing touches on the walkways between the rings. Stay tuned for more details.

June 7: Laying the Ground Work

The garden terrain will be a series of berms and swales to direct and collect rain water. Chapel Valley has generously contributed equipment and manhours to construct these elevation changes, since it's far too much work for volunteers' manual labor. Here's a shot of the work in progress:

June 3: Work Begins!

Today Justin and I went down to the site to start marking it off and prepare for the excavators coming next week. The weather was much more conducive than a couple of days ago. We took delivery of two truckloads of topsoil and a truckload of gravel. The surface of the site right now is a mix of rock and construction debris--not very friendly to plants, or to rainwater permeation. So we're going to cover the planted areas with soil, and the walkways with gravel, for a more pleasant surface that will also reduce runoff.

The first thing we did was unload Justin's car, which was filled to the brim with silt fencing, stakes, and other materials, topped with rolls of hay. I'm sure he's glad to get most of his car back.

We needed to mark the center of the site with a stake, so we measured it off from the side of the Velocity building. Hammering the stake into the ground was not happening--it took some digging to break up some of the surface rock and get to softer dirt. Finally, the center was marked!

Once we had the stake in place, we used string to spray-paint circles, marking the boundaries of the rings of the garden. Justin got a good quad workout:

We made good progress. Next week the excavators come to build the berms for the trees, and lay some of the soil and gravel.

The History of the Project

The Players

In 2009, the Surfrider Foundation's DC Chapter conceived a project, a temporary rain garden to capture water before it ran into the Anacostia River and to educate people about watersheds, water pollution, and ways that homeowners and businesses can reduce stormwater runoff on their own properties. Eric Siegel of Cohen Companies was immediately supportive and made it possible for us to locate the garden on space next to the Velocity Condos in Southeast DC, just a couple of short blocks from Nationals Park and the Anacostia River.

REI---through a nomination by the College Park, Maryland, store--provided a very generous grant to fund the project, and Norcross Wildlife Foundation provided additional funds.

Surfrider members are a diverse crew, and among our chapter's talent pool was Justin Thorn, a landscape architect who had recently moved back to DC from California. Hearing about this project, he stepped up and offered his design services and tremendous project management expertise, along with the counsel and assistance of his firm, EcoSolutions.

The project has been spearheaded by chapter leaders Julie Lawson and JD Krohn.

The Location

The garden is located at L and Half Streets SE, in the Capitol Riverfront neighborhood of Washington, DC. The neighborhood is home to Nationals Park, and new buildings are popping up, bringing new residents, businesses, and life to the western bank of the Anacostia River.

The garden site is slated for construction in the coming years, but has been sitting empty next to the Velocity condo building. The surface, mostly construction debris and rock, doesn't allow for rain water to permeate. The empty space also does little for the neighborhood.

Our goal is to reduce the runoff at the site and create a neighborhood asset in green space and an educational forum. As the site is slated for future construction, the garden is temporary at this location; we hope to move it when the time comes.

The Design

The garden is not quite 5,000 square feet, in concentric circles of trees, planted swales, and gravel walkways. From above (for the lucky residents of Velocity who can see it), it's a ripple, a wonderful metaphor for our volunteers.

The Memory

The garden is named for dedicated Surfrider volunteer David Stemper, who passed away July 3, 2010, while playing basketball with friends at American University. David was involved in virtually every facet of the organization, attending cleanups and social events, teaching students, and volunteering at every request. In fact, he wrote the bulk of the proposal which won us the grant to build this garden. He genuinely loved Surfrider, and we benefited greatly from his passion, enthusiasm, and talents.

Dedicating this garden to him is just a small gesture to show our appreciation.

To learn more about David from the words of his friends, visit this memorial page in his honor.