Volunteers have started to clean up a weedy corner of Forest Hills Park

Back: Tere Baranano, Owen Cox, Lynn Palmer, Lizzie Guzman, Kathy Sykes, Ed Osann, Jared Wyma-Bradley, John Burwell, Merilyn Francis, Walker O’Neil, Rachel S., Sue Guzman
Front: Don Looney, Elizabeth McGowan, Mary Farrah, Tracy Zorpette

by Tracy Zorpette

At the Brandywine Street entrance to Forest Hills Park, a patch of long-neglected overgrowth looks somewhat tidier.

Before the November 8th invasives cleanup at Forest Hills Park, and after.

Good Clean Fun, a project of Van Ness Main Street and a steward of the park and playground, organized an invasive removal event on Saturday, November 8th. It partnered with Mary Farrah, the invasive plant management coordinator at the DC Department of Energy and the Environment, and John Burwell, who is a DOEE conservation steward and National Park Service weed warrior. A strong team of weed warriors mentored the new volunteers on a perfectly crisp and sunny fall morning.

Volunteers avoided the steep slope on the street side for erosion and safety reasons and instead focused on level ground across from the tennis courts. Using loppers, hand saws, pruners, and tree and weed-pulling tools, they began what will hopefully be a long-term project to reclaim the area for native plant species. They chopped bush honeysuckle into smaller pieces, leaving them in place to decompose. Multiflora rose and wineberry plants were cut and removed in bags so they would not resprout. They removed English ivy, winter creeper, and oriental bittersweet vines crawling up trees.

Poison ivy, which is now a bright yellow hue, was left in place. It is a native plant, and its berries are a vital food source for birds in the late summer and fall.

Good Clean Fun hopes to build on the work that was done at this first event. Interested in joining the effort? Email [email protected] to join their Google Group.

Forest Hills Connection is also a Van Ness Main Street program. We maintain our editorial independence.