Eco-clensing begins

Invasive Plant Program Coordinator Sarah Archer (right) and Master Naturalist Lou Ott (left) hash out plans to engage the students of Claremont Elementary School in a biodiversity service learning project.

They call themselves “Four Play.” This is largely in part due to the restoration work they carry out along Four Mile Run, and partially because they think it’s fun restoring Arlington’s natural heritage. Well, no actually. The "Four Play" sobriquette isn't even remotely true, yet they do find their work to be fun and the Four Mile Run Restoration Group is working diligently to restore Arlington’s landscape to Gaia’s original beauty.

This is why I love them, and this is why I’ve decided to drag my tuckus out from my Tiki Hut in the early morning. I will aid them in their invasive species removals. My first challenge, however, is to turn more S.S. Yes, much like Hitler’s loose marbles panged out the idea that only an Aryan race was fit to inherit the world, naturalists came to the consensus that non-native plants must perish at the expense of original species.

I get it. They don’t belong there. Non-native species have invaded, and they’re choking out other plants that cohabitate with native species. Shit becomes shat and non-natives catalyze biodiversity loss, weaken food chains, and before long we’re facing a potential biological dead-zone and a corridor for disease vectors.

Truth be told, I just need to grow a pair and stop drawing parallels between the onslaught of invasive species and the decimation of once oppressed populations. These plants are the bad guys here, and by eliminating them, I’m not the Gestapo, the Khmer Rouge, or the KGB. I’m not the Jolly Green Jackal, I’m an eco-purifier. The sad truth is, if non-natives aren’t eradicated, it will be sayonara time for many ecosystems. So, I enter the bio-field as a foot soldier.

A Mallard Duck dives for something utterly delicious in the waters of Four Mile Run.

Steve-adon Milosevic readies for some eco-cleansing

Today, during my break from serving as a teacher’s assistant at Claremont Elementary School and my job at Virginia Gardens, I met with Invasive Plant Program Coordinator Sarah Archer of the Four Mile Run AmeriCorps Group, Special Projects Coordinator Cherie Nelson and Master Naturalist Lou Ott to discuss the possibility of having students from Claremont Elementary School and Greenbrier Learning Center take part in a service learning project outside Claremont Elementary school.

As fortune would have it, an extremely biologically diverse region, the Magnolia Bog, exists in Claremont’s backyard, about six football fields away. But as misfortune would have it, a large concentration of invasive species are located on the grounds of Claremont Elementary and they are breeding and spreading into the bog. With this being the case, the kids have a unique opportunity for a really cool service learning project, where they could first view the unique wonders offered at the bog, and then learn about what invasives are doing to the landscape around their school, and perhaps lend a hand to pull a few.

We’re zeroing in on a day in May, to do the project. This way the kids will be done with their dreaded SOL’s (Standards of Learning) and the teachers will be more apt to be engaged. Vi ska se.

An interesting kicker to the whole Claremont project is that the Four Mile Run Restoration Group needs the approval of Principal Cynthia Johnson, in order to do any invasive removal work on school grounds. I learned today that Claremont is a sort-of-hub in which invasives fan out and spread into Barcroft Park. If the group gains permission to do eradication work on the school’s grounds, it could eliminate this invasive stronghold and really strengthen the park’s condition.

It will be interesting to see how Four Mile Run approaches Principal Johnson. Perhaps with the face time I’ve had with her, luck will be on our side. In the meantime, my volunteer work with "Four Play" begins. I will be volunteering 6-7 hours each month.

Four Mile Run Stream meanders 9.35 miles. A portion of the stream, such as the the segment shown in this picture, ripples through my backyard at Columbia Grove Apartments. During thunderstorms the stream surges and creates a marvelous scene for paper boat races.