UPDATE: July 17, 2013 

It really hasn’t been so bad, those bulldozers and big yellow machines out in the wetlands. There’s still a lot for you to see. There’s still a lot to do, but the potential rewards are big.The remodeling of the Huntley Meadows wetlands continues this summer.  There’s a major step in the project coming soon.  Construction of the berm in the wetlands is expected to begin in late July or early August. The earthen and vinyl sheet piling berm will allow park staff to raise the water levels in the wetland approximately two feet. That will reclaim water depth that has been lost to silt. The silt comes from erosion and construction associated with upstream suburban development.

The berm is part of a restoration of the park’s central wetland, a restoration that has brought construction equipment to the area. That equipment will be visible in the park’s natural areas for a few more months, however the reconstruction means that in the long term the park will continue to have a functioning, healthy and diverse wetland capable of supporting locally rare plants and animals. In short, you’ll see more cool stuff.

The berm will work hand-in-hand with a water control structure comprised of pipes and slide gates. Staff can use those gates to raise and lower water levels as the seasons pass. The fluctuating water levels will help maintain a healthy wetland for decades and will return biodiversity to Huntley Meadow’s wetlands.

This part of the project was planned for mid-summer to limit the pestering of animals during their reproductive seasons. That keeps the babies safe. In addition, staff and volunteers have removed hundreds of reptiles, amphibians and native plants from areas where digging will take place and shuttled them to other, safer spots in the park.

We expect the water control structure to be completed by September. The project as a whole is on track for completion in November or December. Some cleanup tasks may last until March 2014.

There will be temporary trail closures in parts of the park until the project’s completion. The hike-bike trail off the South Kings Highway entrance is closed. However, the boardwalk and the observation tower are open, so come on out to Huntley Meadows park and watch the changes as the wetlands gets healthier over the coming months.

Got questions? A lot of answers are on the Wetland Restoration Project web page.  Or, give the park a call at 703-768-2525 and speak with Kevin Munroe or Kathleen Lowe.

MARCH 20, 2013

This is going to be great when it’s done, and well worth the wait.

To be honest, you might be surprised when you see a bulldozer sitting in the Huntley Meadows wetlands. Park staff understands, yet we know there is a rewarding and bigger surprise in the near future. You’re going to see a renewed and healthy wetland with a wider variety of wildlife. Consider the remodeling of a room or front yard. It’s a shock and can be distressing during the process, but the end results make it worthwhile.

That’s what we have in Huntley Meadows Park. There’s a problem, and we’re going to fix it so that the area retains its healthy wetland. We’ve got to go through some discomfort to get to those rewarding results.

Over the past couple of decades, silt and debris have been slowly, steadily filling the central wetland at Huntley Meadows Park. Some of that is natural, and some of it is suburban living. If we let this combination of natural and suburban run-off have its way, pretty soon the wetland will become woodland or meadow. Normally that would be okay, and the Park Authority’s naturalists would be all in favor of letting the park evolve into a forest or grassland. However, there’s another issue.

Huntley Meadows Park has the largest non-tidal wetland in Northern Virginia. There’s nothing else like it in Fairfax County, and it’s incredibly valuable as a wetland to wildlife, to water quality and to visiting county residents, including students, scientists and nature-lovers. So after more than 20 years of tracking the changes, wide-ranging discussions about ethics, beliefs, goals, missions, values and options, and more than 60 meetings, the Park Authority Board considered all comments and decided to restore the wetlands to the condition of its prime years in the 1970s and 1980s.

That’s where the bulldozer comes in. It’s going to take heavy equipment to get the job done. We’re going to do several things that will bring excellent results to the wetland. First, our construction team, supervised by park staff and environmental engineers, will get their beaver on and construct a berm that will hold back water. They’ll install pipes as part of a water control structure that will rest out of sight under water and be used to manage the water levels. Lastly, they’ll provide numerous brush shelters and logs as habitat for wildlife and create five deeper pools. As a result, the wetland will spread into parts of the surrounding forest, and hemi-marsh plant communities will be managed by changing water levels as needed and by varying the water depths. The end result will be diverse year-round wildlife habitat.

And one more result. Fairfax County residents will get to see the Huntley Meadows wetland return to the regionally significant area that was one of the most productive and diverse non-tidal wetlands in the mid-Atlantic area. It will hopefully again be an attractive home for species that are rare in this region; species such as American Bittern, Least Bittern, Yellow-crowned Night Heron, King Rail, Pied-billed Grebe, Common Moorhen and a long list of reptiles and amphibians.

If you’ve only seen the Huntley Meadows wetland of the past decade, you’re in for a surprise. Once it returns to its hemi-marsh, or emergent marsh, condition there will be more water and more wildlife in the wetland. We think you’ll like it a lot, and it will create unique and exemplary education opportunities.

We’re taking these steps and managing the wetland to ensure that Huntley Meadows Park continues to host a functioning, healthy and diverse wetland that will be home to locally rare plants and animals on a consistent, long-term basis.

Construction starts in April, and the project is scheduled for completion in December. Although the visitor center, surrounding trails, boardwalk and observation tower will all remain open, the Hike-Bike Trail (off South Kings Hwy) will be closed for months at a time. This three million dollar project is funded by park bonds and grants.

Got questions? A lot of answers are on the Wetland Restoration Project web page.  Or, give the park a call at 703-768-2525 and speak with Kevin Munroe or Kathleen Lowe.

Written by Dave Ochs, manager, Stewardship Communications, Resource Management Division