by Marlene Berlin
If you haven’t walked the Soapstone Valley Trail for a couple of weeks, you’ll notice some changes on your next visit. The Rock Creek Crew of the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club was out working on trail improvements on November 15th.
At work on the Soapstone Valley Trail in mid-November. (photo courtesy of the Rock Creek Crew of the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club)
Alex Sanders heads the crew, and he said in an email that volunteers took on two main projects that day: “Enhancing the primary entrance down into Soapstone Valley near the west end of Audubon Terrace, and re-routing a short stretch of Soapstone Valley Trail away from the crumbling streambank.”
The first project addressed the problem of water runoff from a storm a few weeks ago that eroded a steep downhill entrance to the trail. The volunteers filled in the eroded section, and redug the trenches and replaced the waterbar (a wooden beam) with a longer one to direct water away from trail. They hope this will cut down on erosion from downpours.
Sanders says the second project was necessary due to steady erosion of Soapstone Creek’s streambanks.
“As the banks erode, there’s less space between the trail and the bank, and park users are one or two steps from taking a tumble,” Sanders said. “We re-routed a short section of the trail to go away from the bank. This involved cutting a downed tree and moving it aside, removing dozens of invasive shrubs, and shifting around dirt and rocks to provide users with a smoother surface.”
“This trail’s days are numbered”
It would seem, though, that this work is merely buying time for the trail and its users. In the years that Sanders has been the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club’s district manager in DC, he has watched Soapstone Creek’s streambanks erode and lose sediment.
“The stream is becoming wider, shallower and less healthy. And the trail is clearly imperiled in several locations,” he said.
“I don’t know when it will happen, but at some point, we will no longer be able to keep the Soapstone Valley Trail open as it falls into the stream. We will have nowhere else to put it. Without determined action from the property owners in the Soapstone Valley watershed, this trail’s days are numbered.”
Another problem is a fallen tree that is blocking the streambed closer to Broad Branch Road.
Sanders and I have been talking with the National Park Service about removing it, and NPS has assured me it will. Over the months the tree has been down, Sanders says it has significantly changed the stream bed with sediment building up behind it.
“Much of the water is flowing around the tree on the north side where it will erode the little spit of the land and the trail. I also wonder what will happen in the next rainstorm. Will the tree block debris and make it impossible for users to cross the stream? PATC will continue to request that the blowdown be cut into pieces so the stream flows in the middle rather than scour out the banks.”
All warnings aside, the Rock Creek Crew of the PATC has not given up on our little oasis. Volunteers plan to return in the spring to repair the stream crossings. The Forest Hills community thanks Sanders and his crew for maintaining our trails so all can enjoy the beauty of this area.
Related:
Where (and how) the stormwater flows into Soapstone
DC agencies look into Soapstone erosion
Discover more from Forest Hills Connection | News and Life in Our DC Neighborhood
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Mary Beth Ray says
Alex– thanks for your work on this. I had no idea the trail was in such jeopardy. How can the neighbors help? How can we coordinate among DDOE, DCW and NPS to address these erosion issues? Should we try to set up a meeting with all parties in Jan.? Sally Gresham and I have been trying to get a meeting going on the Albemarle/32nd St. trail entrance, so perhaps that’s a starting point?
Alex Sanders says
Mary Beth- my pleasure. Stormwater runoff is a big problem with many sources. Nearly all of the runoff enters the park from outside of its borders and that’s where the answers are. Property owners around the watershed must reduce and capture runoff as much as possible before it enters the storm drains.
In my opinion, this will require a concerted effort by DDOE, DDOT and property owners large and small to reduce and capture the runoff. A meeting with key government agencies would be a good start.
David Bardin says
This Trail is a public asset. It merits Asset Management, clearly led and well-coordinated: Some of this Trail is on DDOT land, some on federal NPS land. DDOT also has general trail-planning duties, applies for federal grants to improve and patch trails, and attracts volunteers to supplement outstanding work of this Trail’s champion — the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club. Erosion control to protect this Trail requires (a) less rainwater flow from a watershed that extends to Woodrow Wilson Senior High School and Wisconsin Avenue and (b) slower flow. DDOE is DC’s lead storm-water management planning agency; and DDOT is its big partner in actually installing facilities such as rain gardens to absorb rain before it rushes down the gutters. Neither has adopted a comprehensive plan, schedule, or priority for Soapstone Valley’s watershed as a whole. So huge water quantities can rush into storm sewers and drop 40 feet into the Park. DDOE, DDOT, DC Water, and NPS have yet to agree on measures inside the Park to slow down erosive flows — or who will budget for those measures. For want of a coordinated Asset Management program, this Trail may be lost.
vera mayer says
I am very aware of the erosion begin with the entrance on Albemarle but I am not a property owner there. Please specify whom I should contact to support your efforts.
David Bardin says
Erosion which may destroy Soapstone Valley Trail threatens DC’s whole system of trails. Scott Einberger explains in his new book, “A History of Rock Creek Park – Wilderness & Washington, DC” (The History Press, 2014): “Erosion caused by flooding and stormwater has caused almost all of the trail, road and bridge damage in Rock Creek Park, and these factors continue to affect park infrastructure into the present. . . . . Although floods are natural and occurred on Rock Creek prior to large scale urbanization, over the years the water volume has increased due to expansion of the urban surroundings. Roads, sidewalks, driveways, parking lots and rooftops are impervious, meaning water cannot filter through them. As a result, during heavy rainfall, the urban surfaces act as waterways in their own right, flushing … into storm drains. These storm drains then dump directly into Rock Creek and its tributaries, leading to a negative chain reaction: the powerful stormwater … chews away at stream banks, causing erosion; the erosion topples trees, eats away at park infrastructure …” Unchecked, stormwater wipes out our trails.