The beautiful Roaches Run Waterfowl Sanctuary, in Arlington, Virginia, lies near Reagan National Airport, across from the Crystal City skyline, and along the George Washington Memorial Parkway. (Beautiful, as we say, but also noisy!) In 2008, we began collaborating with the National Park Service, which owns the Sanctuary, to help restore the native plant communities in this island of nature amidst a sea of development. (May 2010)

Before we started work, Rod Simmons, botanist for the City of Alexandria, took Lisa, Chris, and Laura Beaty on a tour of the Sanctuary’s tidal wetland habitat to check out the vegetation. (Chris and Lisa are the Earth Sangha principals; Laura is with the Virginia Native Plant Society.) From left to right, that’s Lisa, Rod, and Laura in the boat. They found some interesting things! (Keep clicking.) (October 2008)

Perhaps the most significant find at Roaches Run is the locally rare Virginia sweetspire (Itea virginica). This water-loving shrub—the one with the reddish foliage—is an important resource for local native pollinators. (October 2008)

Another view of the wetland vegetation. The bright red flowers belong to cardinal flower (Lobelia cardinalis); in the foreground, arrow arum (Peltandra virginica), grows in the standing water along the shoreline. (October 2008)

We held our first event at Roaches Run in the spring of 2010. Our start date was delayed a little because the NPS had to complete its herbicide treatment of our work area, shown here. The area was dominated by invasive alien plants. It lies between the eastern shore of the tidal pond and the GW Parkway. (In the photo, you can just make out some colored flecks; these are the flags that mark planting locations.) A big group of volunteers from our regular network, as well as a troop of Boy Scouts, planted several hundred native shrubs along here. (April 2010)

Our first planting included common elderberry (Sambucus canadensis), Carolina rose (Rosa carolina), winterberry (Ilex verticillata), flowering dogwood (Cornus florida), blackhaw (Viburnum prunifolium), and spicebush (Lindera benzoin). Most of the plants came from our own Wild Plant Nursery. (April 2010)

One of our regular volunteers, Brian, brings a load of elderberry down to the site. As you can see, our site is right up against the Parkway, hence the fashionable neon attire. (April 2010)

There is still a lot of invasive rootmass here; reestablishing a native plant community could be a challenge. The person kneeling at center is Elizabeth Burke, one of our board members, a scout mom, and a seasoned planter. (April 2010)

The site is reaches down to the water, but a steep slope keeps most of the area quite dry most of the time. Our volunteers gave the plants a little refreshment as they put them in, by hauling water from the tidal pond. (April 2010)

One of the Sanctuary’s beautiful native redbud trees (Cercis canadensis) in full bloom. (April 2010)

Volunteer Jane Chung finds a comfortable home for this little elderberry. (April 2010)

NPS Ranger Erik Oberg gives an orientation speech to a crowd at an invasives-control event, held after the planting. This is not the easiest speech venue; Erik is talking over Parkway traffic, air traffic at Reagan National Airport (which is just on the other side of the Parkway), and a train, which is chugging along on the other side of the tidal pond. (May 2010)

For the invasives-control event, the goal is to cut back any resprouting invasives in our planting area, and to push farther into a massive Amur honeysuckle (Lonicera maackii) infestation in the northern part of the Sanctuary. That's what these people are doing. The Amur honeysuckle alone would be bad enough, but it’s also covered with a layer of tough alien vines, mainly porcelainberry (Ampelopsis brevipedunculata). Over a hundred volunteers from the UN Foundation came out for this event. (May 2010)

Here, volunteers are bagging an infestation of Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica). Despite all the invasives, the native plants here enjoy one big advantage, uncommon in our local parks: no deer browsing. Because of all the surrounding development, the deer cannot reach the site. (May 2010)

Our colleague, Kris Unger (at left in foreground), lends a hand and a trash bag. Kris led several invasive plant removal days at Roaches Run, during weekdays, to help keep up the pressure on the invasives during the spring and early summer. (May 2010)

All that invasives control opened up a lot of room, which was rapidly occupied by our native pokeweed (Phytolacca americana). Pokeweed is kind of a specialist in taking over disturbed areas. Volunteers from ClearCarbon, a local carbon-emissions consulting firm, waded into the pokeweed to chop some of it away from the planting. That will make it easier for the Park Service to water the planting. (September 2010)

The ClearCarbon crew after a hard day in the pokeweed. Their clothes are spotted with purple stains—evidence of close encounters with the magenta-stemmed plant’s purple-berries. One volunteer described pokeweed as “Alice in Wonderland-like.” The tall man in back, in the center, is Jerry Schrepple, not a ClearCarbon employee but a frequent volunteer at Roaches Run. (September 2010)

In spring 2011, we did another planting in the same general area. Volunteers from Clemson University in North Carolina traveled all the way up here to do three “Days of Service” with the Sangha. Two of those days were spent at Roaches Run. (The other was at our Native Arboretum.) Here, Clemson volunteers are planting native trees at the northern end of the park, where we are pushing back against the Amur honeysuckle. (March 2011)

The Clemson group worked hard and maintained a very positive outlook, as is evident here. These people are on spring break—and they don’t seem to regret their decision to spend it doing field work! (March 2011)

A Clemson student plants along a backdrop of the alien and highly invasive phragmites (Phragmites australis), a perennial aquatic grass. This grass, if unmanaged, can quickly crowd out native plants, alter marsh hydrology, and disturb wildlife habitat. This patch of it has been treated with herbicide, but continued control will likely be necessary. (March 2011)

An Eastern painted turtle makes its way through the Sanctuary. From the looks of its worn, dull shell, this is one of the Sanctuary’s older residents. (March 2011)

A few brave Clemson volunteers waded into the tidal pond to pick up trash between the bank and the phragmites stand. The tide came in as they were working, but that didn’t stop them. Here, they’re displaying their soaked jeans and shoes. (March 2011)

A group photo of the Clemson students and NPS Ranger Erik Oberg. You wouldn’t be able to tell, from all that good cheer, how hard these people had worked over the past three days. Our Roaches Run plantings benefited greatly from their presence. (March 2011)