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The Arlington Environment

Spring 2008 Contents

• Exploring Pohick Bay
• Green Living Challenge Special Edition
  • Take The Green Living Challenge
  • Maintain a Green Home and Garden
  • Conserve Energy
  • Reduce Auto Dependence
  • Shop Responsibly
  • Commit to Fair Trade Shopping
  • Green Your Community
• 1978 - 2008: ACE Celebrates 30 Years
• The Nature of Arlington: Wildflowers
• Mark Your Calendar for Our Upcoming Events

Feature Article

There you are, skimming along the smooth waters of an uncommonly beautiful wetland. A kingfisher chatters as it whizzes by you, a bald eagle turns a broad circle overhead and a deer gazes at you from the shore. A breeze covers the water with silky ripples, but when calm returns you peer down into a world of emerald plants and shining fish.

Are you in some exotic place far away? Montana? Mississippi? Perhaps the Chesapeake Bay? Even closer. You are on a canoe trip on the marshes of Pohick Bay Regional Park, just 20 miles south of Washington, D.C. Pohick Bay Regional Park is managed by the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority (NVRPA).

Pohick, a name derived from the Algonquin Indian word for “water place,” is rich in wildlife and history. The freshwater marshes of the Potomac and other rivers that feed the Chesapeake are tremendously fertile places, producing as much or more biomass each year as any other place on Earth. They are nurseries for fish – not only for fish that live in the freshwater all their lives, but also for those that return to the ocean or saltier parts of the Chesapeake to live out most of their adult lives.

Other wildlife found at Pohick Bay includes beaver, herons and egrets, and red-winged blackbirds in abundance. Gar, carp and catfish that are three feet in length or more swim in the shallow waters along with white perch, gizzard shad, tiny killifish and many other species of fish. Warblers and other migrant birds, butterflies and other insects appear or pass through on a seasonal basis.

The park was acquired by NVPRA in segments from 1961 through 1972. Ancient Indian encampments and artifacts have been found and excavated along the shores of the bay. Although most of the direct evidence comes from Woodland Indian and Archaic Indian cultures (up to 4000 B.C.), evidence from other nearby areas points to the probability that Paleo Indians (who lived about 10,000+ years ago at the end of the last ice age) also visited these shores. If they did, they would not have encountered the broad, tidal waters we see now. At that time, sea level was about 300 feet lower than it is now, and all streams in our area would have been flowing and non-tidal.

One of the most prevalent ecosystems in the park is wetlands and marshes. Marshes are tremendously beneficial to our environment as they form great sinks and filters for excess nutrients from the land, thus helping to maintain water quality and clarity elsewhere.

Nutrients are taken in by the lush growths of shoreline plants such as spatterdock, a water lily, and pickerelweed as well as submerged aquatic vegetation (SAVs) such as coontail and the non-native hydrilla. These plants also help baffle floodwaters, preventing the washing away of these nutrients and valuable habitat.

Martin Ogle, Chief Naturalist at Potomac Overlook Regional Park, has noticed significant recovery of vegetation in Pohick Bay. “In the 1980s, one only encountered little patches or sprigs of SAVs. Now almost all of the shallow parts of Pohick Bay marsh have SAVs growing in them.”

With the new vegetation, large populations of fish, waterfowl, and many other species of wildlife are flourishing as well. Even though hydrilla is a non-native variety, it did colonize an area formerly devoid of almost all life. Lately, native varieties seem to be making a comeback as well.

One highlight of recent excursions to Pohick Bay has been watching the ritual barrel-roll flight of a mating pair of bald eagles. A bluff overlooking the marsh offers a wonderful spot to stretch one’s legs, get a bite to eat and enjoy a great view of the marsh. Each season offers a different experience and set of plant life and wildlife to observe and study. A visit to Pohick Bay by canoe is definitely a good excuse to get out of the hustle of Northern Virginia.