Nature enthusiasts engaged all of their senses on the June 29, 2024, ecology walk led by Charles Smith along the Haul Road trail.
From the tiny blue-fronted dancer damselfly (Argia apicalis) perched on a twig to a fledged, first-year bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) returning to its parent-less Haul Road nest, 25 people from Good Shepherd Catholic Church’s Care for Creation group enjoyed many of nature’s delights on a June 15, 2024, walk led by three FODMers and National Park Service ranger, Daniel Brier.
On April 11 and May 15, 2024, FODM volunteers collected sediment samples from the bed of the unnamed stream that flows through Mount Vernon Park, Westgrove Dog Park, River Towers Condominium properties and into Dyke Marsh. FODM started monitoring this stream in 2016 in partnership with the Northern Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District (NVSWCD).
On May 19, 2024, National Park Service George Washington Memorial Parkway staff opened the rebuilt, 1,070-foot-long bridge 23 in Dyke Marsh, east of Tulane Drive.
In 2022, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) proposed to build a six- to seven-foot-high wall with removable “aluminum stop-log closures” at the street intersections just west of the George Washington Memorial Parkway.
