by Tino Calabia
Willard Avenue Neighborhood Park has two entrances along the Avenue itself. Walking downhill on Willard Avenue from the Friendship Heights Metro station, you first come to the Park’s main entrance just a few yards past the Willard Towers high-rise apartment building.
On May 8th, four neighbors who live nearby, met with Little Falls Watershed Alliance Director Sarah Morse, at the top of the path leading into the hilly woods that end at River Road. Very close to their meeting place is a creek that flows downhill into Little Falls which itself eventually flows into the Potomac River. When the meeting began, the trees and overgrowth around the group virtually hid a tall sign explaining the hours when the Park is open, a metal railing down a slope leading to the water’s edge of the creek, and the creek itself.
After the neighbors used gloved hands, long-handled clippers, and a saw to clear the non-native invasive overgrowth, such as honeysuckle, what had been hidden was finally seen. Below are three photos that summarize the story.
Little Falls Watershed Alliance Director SARAH MORSE (right), explains the negative effects of non-native invasive plants to Friendship Heights Village Council Chairman BOBBY PESTRONK (center) and West Friendship Association Secretary DAWN CALABIA (left).
Removing thickets of non-native bush honeysuckle vines, CHRISTINE KNAUER (left) and West Friendship Association President ANN OLIVERI (right) reveal a sign saying when the Willard Avenue Neighborhood Park is open. The sign was previously barely visible.
Once the cutting was done and the overgrowth of nonnative vines was dispatched with, a metal railing became visible. One could even spot a small pool at the creek’s bank. Prior to the clearing project, none of this was visible from the main path only yards away.
Friends of Willard Avenue Park 