Lower Accotink Creek Hike
February 5, 2006
Purpose: To assess the condition of the Accotink Creek streambed and locate potential locations for stream cleanup events.
Location: Lower Accotink Creek, walking upstream from the northern boundary of Fort Belvoir at Telegraph Road, over four miles to the southern boundary of the Engineer Proving Ground, just north of Fullerton Road.
Observations: Beaver dams, red-tailed hawks, pileated woodpeckers, the fresh tracks of deer, fox, and raccoon within earshot of the drone of I-95 traffic give hope for the health of the neglected, overlooked stretches of Accotink Creek. Yet, alongside these are the clear signs of ill health - mounds of trash, undercut stream banks, silt-laden water, toppled trees caused by excessive runoff, and innumerable invasive multiflora rose bushes and vines.
Conditions on this stretch of Accotink Creek range from a dumping grounds to "no-worse-than-usual" for a stream that is quickly filled to the banks with storm runoff. The Friends of Accotink Creek expect to undertake some of their initial cleanup efforts at sites found here.
Duane Murphy and Philip Latasa were joined by Clair Garman, the webmaster for Friends of Accotink Creek and its sister group in Maryland, Friends of Sligo Creek www.fosc.org.
