Some community action groups take years to build a following. Others seem to grow overnight. One such program is helping grow trees important for land and water health in Arlington and throughout the Potomac and Chesapeake watersheds.
"Growing Native," described by organizers as "a widespread, volunteer-led environmental scavenger hunt," hosted a seed-collection at Potomac Overlook Regional Park on Saturday, Oct. 12. Growing Native hosts events throughout the region, where volunteers gather seeds to be planted next year and used in reforestation efforts. Organizers instruct volunteers on identifying the seeds of hardwood trees native to the region and important in maintaining soil and water purity.
"Native seeds are needed on a regular basis for reforestation efforts," said Rob Carey in a press release. Carey, the coordinator of Growing Native, added, "By generating a volunteer network to collect the seeds, we are providing an ongoing service to foresters – and to our communities – who are working to protect our landscapes and waterways."
<b>ARLINGTON’S HOME BASE</b> for Growing Native is Potomac Overlook, but collections have been hosted at other parks as well, and at Arlington National Cemetery. "Our event here went great," said Martin Ogle, Manager of Potomac Overlook Park. Ogle said volunteers collected over 100 pounds of seeds and acorns during the two-hour program.
"We collected twice as many seeds with half as many volunteers [compared with last year]" said Carolyn Bausch, the Director of Development for the Potomac Conservancy, one of the founding partners of Growing Native. Turnout at the event was low due to the threat of rain, she said, but volunteer turnout has risen dramatically during Growing Native’s two year existence.
Indeed, over 3,750 people have volunteered this year at more than 200 locations, according to Jennifer Schill, another representative from the Potomac Conservancy. "At this point, the state nurserymen have counted about 10,000 pounds of seed that were collected by volunteers involved in Growing Native," she said on Monday.
Bausch called Growing Native "a fabulous way to engage people of all different ages and backgrounds" in environmental conservation.
The program’s success, she said, can be attributed to organizers capturing the attention and interest of volunteers. "It’s captured people’s imagination," she said, adding that the program has been able to "raise understanding of the connection between land and water health."
<b>GETTING INVOLVED NOW</b> is still possible, say organizers. More public collections, like the one hosted by Potomac Overlook on Oct. 12, are coming up. A schedule is available on the website, www.growingnative.org. But people can participate in Growing Native even if they cannot attend a public collection event, organizers say.
"Many drop-off sites, particularly in the forestry offices, will be open through the end of this month," said Schill. "In Arlington, Potomac Overlook Regional Park is actually the place to drop off seeds. It, too, will be open through the end of this month."
Keeping drop-off sites open is one of the ways Growing Native is involving larger numbers of volunteers. The sites, say organizers, encourage people to look in their own neighborhoods for seeds of native hardwoods, particularly willow oaks, southern red oaks, water oaks, and black walnuts, which foresters need most drastically. And meeting that need is simple. "People can do this in their own backyards," said Bausch.
The Oct. 12 collection in Arlington drew some volunteers far from their own backyards. Rene Miller, a Botanist from Great Britain, came to the event after reading about Growing Native on the Internet. She did have other reasons for being here, she confessed. "If you like trees you come to America now," she explained, "because the colors are changing." The climate in the U.K. prohibits the autumn colors witnessed here, she said. She applauded Growing Native and said similar initiatives to support native plant species have developed on the other side of the Atlantic as well.