On Saturday, February 20, as a recently certified outings leader, I led my first hike with the Sierra Club Potomac Region Outings (SCPRO) group. It was a simple out-and-back hike along the C&O Canal Towpath (so no one could get lost), starting at the parking lot for the Clara Barton House in Glen Echo, MD, and turning around at the parking lot near Anglers Inn, for a total of 11 miles. With a total of 19 participants, everyone seemed to enjoy the late winter views of the Potomac River and woods along the Canal, with remnants of melting snow and ice on one of the first warm days in a couple of months. Even some furry critters came out to check out the sun. Some people were there to train for the One Day Hike (a 50 or 100KM hike on April 30 sponsored by SCPRO), while others were just meeting like-minded outdoor enthusiasts, enjoying the scenery, and getting their weekly exercise.
For the beginning and middle of the hike, I prepared some talking points about the history and some environmental issues surrounding the Potomac River and C&O Canal, truly a treasure for DC residents to enjoy. As I read online facts and stories about the great river and National Park, I was inspired to learn more and explore this natural space to a greater extent. Here are some of the points I made. If you're interested in joining a future SCPRO hike, visit http://www.sierrapotomac.org/index.htm, or join the meetup group at http://www.meetup.com/sierrapotomac/. You can see more pics of our hike (including the wildlife) at http://www.meetup.com/sierrapotomac/photos/26759791/.
Historical Facts about Potomac River and C&O Canal:
· The Potomac River, over 400 miles long, flows from West Virginia through western Maryland to the Chesapeake Bay. The river is likely 10-20 million years old, having formed when the Oceans receded and exposed coastal sediments along the fall line.
· The Patowmack Canal was intended by George Washington to connect the Tidewater region near Georgetown with Cumberland, MD. Started in 1785 on the Virginia side of the river, it was completed in 1802, and financial troubles led to its closure in 1830.
· The C&O Canal operated on the Maryland side from 1831 to 1924, allowing freight to be transported around Great Falls and other smaller rapids. The canal's principal cargo was coal from the Allegheny Mountains.
· The District of Columbia began using the Potomac River as its principal source of drinking water in 1864.
· Beginning in the 19th century, with increasing mining and agriculture upstream, and urban sewage and runoff downstream, the water quality of the river deteriorated, leading to conditions of severe eutrophication.
· From the 1920s-1940s there was interest among some in Congress in developing the 185 mile long canal and towpath as a parkway for automobiles. Also, after a series of damaging floods in 1936-37, the Army Corps of Engineers proposed a series of dams.
· These ideas met with sustained opposition, led by Supreme Court Justice William Douglas, who in 1954 led an eight-day hike of the towpath from Cumberland to D.C. Justice Douglas formed the C&O Canal Association in 1957, which drafted plans to preserve and protect the Canal. Only one dam project was built (in Garret County, western MD).
· In 1940, Congress authorized an Interstate Compact to coordinate water quality management among states in the Potomac Basin (amended in 1970 to include coordination of water supply and land use issues).
· The C&O Canal and Towpath was established as a National Monument in 1961 by President Dwight Eisenhower in order to preserve the neglected remains of the C&O Canal along with many of the original canal structures.
· In the 1960s, with dense green algal blooms covering the river's surface, President Lyndon Johnson started a long-term effort to reduce pollution from sewage and restore the beauty and ecology of this historic river. One such project was the expansion of the Blue Plains Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant, which serves Washington and several surrounding communities along with other sewage treatment plants in the Potomac watershed. Controls on phosphorus, one of the principal contributors to eutrophication, were implemented in the 1980s, through sewage plant upgrades and restrictions on phosphorus in detergents.
· The C&O Canal National Historical Park Act, signed by President Richard Nixon in 1971, established the canal as a National Historical Park.
· By the end of the 20th century, there was notable success, as massive algal blooms vanished and recreational fishing and boating rebounded.
· President Bill Clinton designated the Potomac as one of the American Heritage Rivers in 1998.
Current Environmental Issues:
· The aquatic habitat of the Potomac River and its tributaries remain vulnerable to eutrophication, heavy metals, pesticides and other toxic chemicals, over-fishing, alien species, and pathogens associated with fecal coliform bacteria and shellfish diseases. In 2005 the US Geological Survey and the Fish and Wildlife Service, began to identify fish in the Potomac and tributaries that exhibited "intersex" characteristics, as a result of endocrine disruption caused by pollution.
· The Potomac Conservancy is an environmental advocacy group that Sierra Club often partners with, and whose motto is “fighting for clean water through conservation and advocacy”. It has over 17000 members and online activists who are fighting for clean drinking water, healthy lands and connected communities. This includes increasing Green Infrastructure in DC and suburbs to reduce runoff into sewers and waterways, smart growth that protects green spaces and storm-water management, and rural lands conservation including family owned farms.
· The conservancy has called on Donald Trump to donate 500 mature trees to NOVA Parks to be planted in Loudon County, VA, where Trump had that many trees cut down to create a view for his private country club, creating a threat to water quality and local wildlife, causing erosion, spoiling aesthetics.
· On March 12, 10AM – 1PM, the Potomac Conservancy is leading a cleanup at the River Center at Lock 8. For more info, go to http://potomac.org/pc-events/2016/3/12/potomac-stewards-at-the-river-center.
· While boating, kayaking and paddle boarding are allowed in the Potomac, swimming has been banned in the river in DC’s borders since 1971 when DC health officials and EPA sought to protect people from health hazards of local water bodies.
· The Nation’s Triathlon, held annually in DC in September, had to cancel its swim portion (near Memorial Bridge and the Tidal Basin) in 2011 and 2014 due to unsafe levels of raw sewage in the Potomac River caused by heavy rainfall that caused a combined sewer overflow just north of the triathlon swim starting line.
· On February 17, Maryland’s governor appealed a decision by a Virginia state judge that allows Virginia Dominion Power Company to drain treated water from coal ash ponds into a creek that flows into the Potomac River. Dominion plans to release about 250 million gallons of treated coal ash water into Quantico Creek from its Possum Point Power Station.
· Other groups, such as the Potomac Riverkeeper, the Audubon Society, the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin, and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation are working to protect the health of the river and its surrounding ecosystem to promote safe drinking water, and enhance public use and enjoyment.
Rick Nunno
DC Chapter Board Member