Environmental groups seek comprehensive trail along GW Parkway
A coalition of environmental advocacy groups is hoping recent controversy over tree-clearing along the Potomac River leads to creative thinking about the future.
Leaders of nine organizations dispatched a letter to Christine Smith, acting director of the National Park Service's George Washington Memorial Parkway (GWMP). While much of the letter focused on the tree-clearing matter, there also was a call for ways to atone and move forward.
"As an example, the National Park Service could use George Washington Memorial Parkway land on the Arlington side of the parkway to create a linked GWMP-Arlington County trail the full length of the Arlington palisades — from Rosslyn to Pimmit Run," the organizations wrote.
"Such a trail would offer numerous stunning views of the Potomac gorge and would create an entirely new set of hiking opportunities for the D.C. area," they noted.
National Park Service officials in mid-September announced plans to rehabilitate 15 "historic views" between North Donaldson Overlook and Spout Run Parkway . About three acres of trees were slated for removal, mostly non-native and invasive species.
The initiative aimed to provide better vistas of the river for those at road level. Following criticism from some community members, however, it stopped several weeks later at Smith's direction.
The groups that dispatched the joint letter joined critics who claim the initial plan made little sense.
"Most of the users of the GWMP are commuters who drive the parkway, which is a two-lane road in each direction with little or no shoulder, at speeds in excess of 60 mph," they wrote.
The authors argued that the tree-clearing effort violated the spirit, if not necessarily the letter, of state and local environmental laws and ordinances.
Signatories included representatives of the Northern Virginia Bird Alliance, Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Faith Alliance for Climate Change, Friends of Dyke Marsh, Friends of Little Hunting Creek Conservancy, Sierra Club Great Falls Group, Sierra Club Potomac River Group and Virginia Native Plant Society.
