BSCL met on January 4 for its monthly meeting.
Minutes
President Chris Siple called the meeting to order at 7:30pm. The minutes of the November meeting were approved as drafted. December was our holiday party.
Program
Our program was a visit from Sarah Archer, Natural Resources Specialist, Arlington County Department of Parks and Recreation who presented a program on invasive plants. Many non-native invasive plants can pose serious threats to the environment. They can crowd out native species, resulting in monoculture. Invasive vine species like kudzu or wisteria can kill trees. You can unfortunately still buy invasives from nurseries.
Top five problems for Arlington:
- Garlic Mustard
- Japanese Honeysuckle
- English Ivy
- Porcelainberry
- Bush Honeysuckle
Grandmas Creek is a natural resource conservation area, and the County will be removing more bamboo there, up around the curve where Pershing becomes Buchanan. The have been using glyphosphate to treat the regrowth. Bamboo along George Mason Drive was treated under the parks program. Sparrow Pond is slated for treatment in 2022. Arlington County now has invasives funding each year. Funding sources include grants, NC, donations.
You can get involved by participating in one of the County's volunteer events, cutting and pulling invasive species, removing vines from trees or maintaining previously cleared areas. Steve Young leads RIP crews at Long Branch Nature Center on Third Sundays.
Contact info: Sarah Archer, Natural Resources Specialist, Parks and Natural Resources, 2700 S. Taylor St, Arl 22206. sarcher@arlingtonva.us 703-228-1862.
Sarah is on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06IeFrOSM5M
Notes and Announcements
BCH maintenance: Randy Swart reported that we have two of the needed three bids to replace our heating and air conditioning units. The heater for our water pipe located in the crawl space is plugged in for the current frigid weather, but it draws 600 watts.
7th St trail connector: Keith Fred, Block Captain for this Neighborhood Conservation project and others attended a final design meeting. The design has changed, with more extensive grading and stormwater work.
Elaine Squeri updated us on the tee shirt project. There is a design competition, and the committee is looking for design submissions.
Dominion has cleared some brush at the site of their former substation in the 400 block of S. Pershing Dr.
The Spaghetti Dinner is on Sunday January 28th.
Alyssa Morel noted that Audubon at home will visit on request and identify invasives on your property while offering advice on how to make your property more bird-friendly.
The meeting adjourned at 8:30pm.
Respectfully submitted
Randy Swart
Still awaiting a volunteer to be Recording Secretary