On Saturday, August 22nd, local nature enthusiasts and members of Prince George’s Sierra Club, in the Maryland Sierra Club chapter, gathered in a virtual outing to explore the local parks, preserves, and natural areas in Prince George’s County. Despite the ongoing pandemic, which has prevented in-person group outings, residents were able to immerse themselves in the vibrant wildlife captured on-screen, and discover renewed wonder and appreciation for oft-overlooked members of the natural world around us. Through a virtual tour of four local natural areas and preserves, event host Janet Gingold (chair of Prince George’s Sierra Club, Outings Leader, and Maryland Master Naturalist) led residents through a visual tour of the vines, insects, fungi, trees and other “common” backyard species, along with images of ever-charismatic woodpeckers, brilliant dragonflies, and shy deer.
Prince George’s County lies East of the DC area, with many attendees residing in nearby College Park, Upper Marlboro, and Clinton. Highlighted in the talk are four parks and natural areas:
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Watkins Regional Park
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Governor Bridge Natural Area
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Cheltenham Wetland Park
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Greenbelt Forest Preserve (North Woods)
But first came a land acknowledgement—of the Anacostan, Patuxent, Piscataway, and the Patawomeck, indigenous tribes that once inhabited the area, and for which the four watersheds of the county are named. “Our rivers still bear those names to remind us of who came first,” says Gingold, an important reminder of the histories and memories preserved in the land we were about to explore.
WATKINS REGIONAL PARK
A popular, well-frequented and maintained natural area, Watkins Regional Park is an “island of greenery” amidst suburbia, and boasts many amenities, such as a carousel and phone-charging benches. While many play areas have been fenced off, Gingold highlights a 1.75-mile paved loop trail, 8-feet-wide and perfect for a socially-distanced family excursion. The wide, paved trail allows for children on scooters or bikes to ride under the shade of oaks, tulip trees, and hornbeam, and to happen serendipitously across a whole host of beautiful, fascinating animals, such as beetles, colorful slugs, woodpeckers, flowers, butterflies, and deer.
Particularly memorable finds include an uncommon, beautifully-patterned leopard slug, to which Gingold exclaims that “if you keep looking, you see all kinds of interesting stuff, just waiting for you to notice it!”
Later flashes an image of a woolly caterpillar, whose coat predicts the severity of the winter—the blacker, the harsher. True to form, this mostly-orange caterpillar was found before a warm winter.
Natural processes are treated with wonder, and Gingold displays images of fallen flowers and fruit as “beautiful things strewn across the ground just waiting for you to notice them.”
After a rain, if you look around you, massive shelf fungi may burst into view, if only for a few days.
Even simple images of trees and vines are brought to life as important indicators of biodiversity, and ushered into the spotlight as active agents protecting us against the increasing concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
Though to my eyes I could only identify one or two vines, Gingold pointed out four vines: Honeysuckle, Poison Ivy, Trumpet Vine, and Virginia Creeper. Surprisingly, even poison ivy got a good word. In an atmosphere with increased concentrations of carbon dioxide, this native vine grows more abundantly and produces more toxic oil, but also feeds wildlife and sequesters carbon from the air.
Artwork resides in the park as well. As the transcendentalists knew, nature remains one of artists’ greatest inspirations. Here, highlighted at Watkins Regional Park, wood sculptures carved from local trees greet running children and the thoughtful, strolling adult.
The park also provides plenty of spaces for quiet contemplation, or simply for the ease of mind social distancing can provide these days. A garden, frequented by flickers and woodpeckers, provides a “quiet nook to sit and breathe the nice, green air.”
GOVERNOR BRIDGE NATURAL AREA
The Governor Bridge Natural Area was once a sand and gravel pit that has been allowed to regenerate, creating a varied topographical landscape dotted with natural ponds—which are stocked with fish for catch-and-release fishing. Due to this rapid regeneration, it’s also the setting of fierce competition between native and non-native species repopulating the habitats.
Here, more interesting vegetation resides—yarrow and legumes. Gingold returns to the vines—offering another moment of gratitude to the poison ivy for their carbon sequestration, before pointing out the differences between porcelain berry vines (above), which strangle their hosts, and poison ivy (below), which follows the tree trunk up into the sunlight.
The interspecies interactions are delightful, bringing a new air of wonder to even a casual natural stroll, where careful observers can marvel at moss growing on poison ivy.
“It’s a really fun place to just go, you don’t have to know what everything is called, you can just see how things are interacting with each other, using each other, sitting on each other, eating each other.”
CHELTENHAM WETLANDS PARK
Local wood sculptures greet you at Cheltenham Wetlands Park, another area of regeneration. Taking a walk through the wetlands can surprise visitors—who find that the temporary wetlands, which were once so full of mating American Toads in the springtime, are replaced by a grassy meadow habitat in the summer.
Serendipity delivers consistently in the form of bold baby sparrows, minnows flitting shyly in the pond, and red admiral wings dancing in the forest.
GREENBELT TRAIL OF THE NORTH WOODS
The final natural area, the Greenbelt Forest Preserve, is a 200 acre preserve, the last of a forest dwindled due to development, and the hard-won product of recurring battles to resist development threats over the last fifty years. It is the lushest of the four natural areas, supporting a healthy population of native species, though still surrounded by invasive species at its fringes. The woods are mature enough for fallen trees to support rotting wood ecosystems, which are important habitats for, among other things, flourishing fungal growth.
Unfortunately, the area is now threatened by the Maglev train development project, a high-speed train connecting Baltimore to Washington DC, which is planned to emerge from its underground tunnel in the middle of the forest, necessitating the deforestation of much of the woods, and creating substantial noise pollution. Though an environmental impact statement is expected to be released in September, locals have been rallying already in the latest fight to preserve this forest.
Though the pandemic has brought the economy and society to a grinding halt, it’s not without its surprising silver linings. Attendees expressed hopes of using this lockdown to better familiarize themselves with the natural areas in their hometown, instead of traveling to faraway destinations to spend time outdoors. Normally empty parks are busy with streams of socially-distanced families looking to ground themselves in the delight of natural immersion. This virtual tour has reinforced the realization that we don’t have to travel across borders to tropical rainforests, or even to famous national parks within the US, to find inspiration, wonder, and lush biodiversity—we just have to look more carefully at all the natural life surrounding us.
“There’s all kinds of creatures out there that, if you just slow down and look for them, there’s plenty to wonder at,” concludes Gingold.
As the Saturday afternoon draws to a close, the attendees agree, eager to explore these new areas and discover these quiet natural wonders in person.
Written by guest blogger Selena Zhao Photographs by Janet Gingold