Anacostia Watershed Society

Environmental education: in 2022, aws moved back toward in-person education programming after the peak of the covid-19 pandemic. We engaged 4,187 students through 187 class sessions and field trips. 860 students from 10 prince george's county high schools joined our mussel power program and participated in virtual interactive mussel intro classes and virtual mussel clay modeling classes to explore mussel anatomy and physiology. Each school raised and studied 20 freshwater mussels in their classrooms and then students tuned in virtually to watch their teachers and aws educators release their mussels at kenilworth aquatic gardens. 303 elementary students from Washington, d.c. also participated in our mussel program. Aws educators joined these students at their schools for mussel intro classes to learn about the importance of mussels to the health of the river. Students learned how to care for their mussels and take weekly mussel growth measurements. Aws took 6 dc mussel schools out to the Anacostia river to release their mussels and go on a motorized boat tour. Aws provided 1,390 students with in-person classroom intro classes and field trips through our rice rangers program. Students were introduced to wetland seed mud-balling activities during which they got hands-on with the wild rice by mixing and forming mud balls with wild rice seeds, and launching the mud balls into nearby wetlands. We worked with two dc elementary schools to engage 185 students in our riversmart schools program during which students participated in garden planting days at their schools and joined aws at the river for a field trip exploring how their school gardens will help reduce pollution in the river. We ran virtual programming for our shad program, engaging 480 students across 10 dc elementary schools. Students tuned in to see a live shad egg hatchery and learn about shad restoration in the Anacostia river. Aws led a live streamed shad release event, for students from all participating schools, to see the shad return to the river. Aws worked with 862 students from 10 schools in our nature near schools program, providing five sessions to each school aimed at engaging students with the natural spaces near their schools. Aws engaged 81 students through our saturday environmental academy programs; 40 students from princeton elementary school in prince george's county received four consecutive days of after school programming that included hands-on activities connected to nature exploration and river restoration, and an additional 41 students from the Watershed participated in a program designed for middle school students to engage in 7 weeks of leadership and environmental skills learning, including hands-on activities, serving as citizen scientists at a vernal pool, investigating mussels and other aquatic life at kenilworth aquatic gardens, planting trees in the Watershed, and more. The programs gave youth a vital opportunity to connect safely with other peers and mentors, get moving outside, and feel a sense of accomplishment as they helped and learned from our environment.

Advocacy: aws influenced policies and resources favorably towards the restoration of the Anacostia river, with a particular emphasis on enhanced stormwater controls, reduction of trash inputs, and increased attention to remediation of legacy toxic chemicals impacting the river.we released our annual state of the river report card in which, unfortunately, the Anacostia river received a failing grade, due largely to a precipitous drop in submerged aquatic vegetation. However, the report provided an important, scientifically rigorous vehicle for promoting urgent action to improve water quality. Aws continued to serve on the leadership committee for a cleaner Anacostia river, prodding the public/private working group to increase the pace of the clean-up of toxic waste in the river. Our multi-year effort to secure federal funding for the Anacostia Watershed restoration project, an ambitious stream restoration project in prince george's county, md, finally came to fruition. We joined stakeholder groups advocating for climate resilient land management solutions at kenilworth park, Anacostia park, poplar point and other locations along the Anacostia river. We continued to collect data on litter captured by our trash traps, using the information to support advocacy for policies to control pet waste and plastic trash such as straws, utensils, single use containers, and bags. Aws submitted testimony based on our trash trap data in support of a successful effort to limit distribution of plastic utensils in prince george's county, md.

Restoration: volunteers continued to be essential to the work of aws, and provided experiences in hands-on conservation work, an important part of our mission. Overall we engaged more than 9,100 people in our field work, education, and recreation programs. We brought more than 2,200 people into the field to plant trees, clear invasive plant species, propagate mussels and shad, and clean up trash. We released more than 8,000 mussels - reaching a milestone of over 35,000 mussels released in the life of the program - into the Anacostia river to restore native populations and improve water quality. Our 20-year effort to re-establish wild rice, a keystone wetlands plant species virtually eliminated by pollution and habitat loss, also reached an important milestone, with over 10 acres and growing of self-sustaining stands of wild rice. In addition, we planted more than 200 trees and other plants to restore wetlands habitats, and we cleared more than 100,000 square feet of invasive plant species from key locations to promote ecosystem health. We organized river clean-ups that removed 30 tons of trash and 140 tires from the Watershed. Our green infrastructure program worked with schools, churches, and property owners to create rain gardens, bioswales, and permeable surfaces to manage stormwater and prevent pollution. Aws launched a program to protect vernal pools, important nursery habitat for frog and salamander species, surveying these ephemeral wetlands across the Anacostia Watershed.

Recreation: aws promoted the recreational use of the Anacostia river and the trails along its tributaries. We provided nearly 215 free pontoon and canoe tours to more than 2,500 residents, including schools, summer camps, community groups, congregations, and companies. These tours enabled community members to experience the beauty of the river firsthand, observe wildlife in an urban setting, and develop a sense of stewardship and connection to the Anacostia river and its Watershed.