Little Falls Watershed Alliance

08/26/2026

Cornell Labs reports that the fall migration is on! If you haven't seen their migration page, give it a peek - https://birdcast.org/ You can put in your location (state or county) on the dashboard and keep track of how many birds are migrating over your house at any given time. It's so cool. Here's for Montgomery county, Maryland for last night.

08/19/2026

W**d Warrior and LFWA volunteer Jesse Swart has been hard at work maintaining the southern part of the Little Falls Park, off Macarthur and Sangamore. 5 intrepid volunteers joined him last weekend to brave the weather and insects and helped control the Akebia quinata choking bushes and trees in the park.

Invasive plants out compete native plants and prevent our natural ecosystem from supporting the full range of life that it could. Invasives thrive in human disturbed areas, so we need to periodically maintain those areas. Also, consider your own gardens. Non-native plants can be quite beautiful, but do you really need a garden that is just statues? Consider planting a range of beautiful native plants and support wildlife in your own yard.

Intrigued? LFWA has w**d pull and native plant restoration events every month. Go to LFWA.org/events to register.

Montgomery Parks

07/28/2026

Well, this is good news for our w**d warriors! https://thebaynet.com/maryland-bans-the-sale-of-invasive-ivy-type-plants/ Maryland has been banning invasive plants with a phased in process. As of July 15 -sale of these plants has been banned: Chocolate vine, Leatherleaf mahonia, Chinese fountain grass, English ivy, Atlantic ivy, Orange daylily, Chinese silvergrass

You can still have them in your yards, but we wish you wouldn't! Pull them out and replace with natives. The Shore River recommends:
❌: Eighty-Six your English Ivy! Replace it with Golden Groundsel (Packera aurea) or Allegheny Spurge (Pachysandra procumbens - not to be confused with Asian pachysandra!)
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❌: Dig up your common orange day lilies (Hemerocallis fulva)! There is a reason someone is always trying to give these away for free! Replace them with Blue Flag Iris (Iris versicolor) for the same bold strappy foliage. Want to keep the bold orange color? Try Butterfly W**d (Asclepias tuberosa), which comes with the added bonus of attracting Monarch butterflies!
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❌: Chuck your Chinese Silver Grass and Chinese Fountain Grass! There are so many native warm season grasses you can grow instead! Two of our favorites are Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum), which comes in a number of cultivars of varying heights, and Little Bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium), which puts on a beautiful display of color in the fall and is a virtual bird feeder in the winter!

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Gardeners, farmers and property owners beware: The Maryland Department of Agriculture is continuing its fight to halt the growth of invasive ivy plants this month. The Maryland General Assembly made significant changes to the invasive plant law, which includes phasing out the sale...

07/24/2026

Another week of high f***l bacteria for the Little Falls watershed. All our sites failed this time - even Brookmont and the Potomac River sites. visit our website at www.LFWA.org/bacteria for more information about our program, what we are finding and why you should worry about f***l bacteria in the waterways. Montgomery Parks

07/21/2026

W**d Warrior Jesse Swart led a group of volunteers in Sangamore Park last weekend.

Together they removed the invasive vines and other plants that are preventing our native trees and ecosystem from thriving. Human disturbance has disrupted our enviornments, but that means human actions can help put it right again.

Sound like fun? Register to one of our many events at lfwa.org/events

Montgomery Parks

07/10/2026

Not a good weekend for splashing in the creeks. All three of our main creeks failed to meet MD State Standards for safe water play. So, once again - no swimming in the Little Falls watershed creeks! If you do come in contact with the water, we recommend washing, washing, and more washing. And definitely do not drink the water. E. coli infections can lead to serious gastrointestinal distress. www.LFWA.org/bacteria for more information on our program, testing locations and E. coli in general. Montgomery Parks

07/02/2026

Just in time for the holiday weekend and extreme weather - we're sorry to have to report that five of our creek test sites in the Little Falls watershed did not meet the Maryland State threshold for safe water play (410 MPN/100ml e. coli). Both our test sites on the Willett Banch failed as well as three sites on the Little Falls branch (one at Somerset Pool, one at the Willard Avenue Neighborhood Park, and one at Mass and Little Falls Parkway.) The good news is that the Brookmont site is very low as well as the Minnehaha creek by Glen Echo. And the Potomac River by Sycamore Island is back down to safe levels.

F***l Bacteria testing is a summer program of the Little Falls Watershed Alliance. We test nine sites on three creeks and the Potomac River every Wednesday morning. The samples are processed by a lab at American University and the results are returned on Thursday - just in time for people to plan their weekends. Please visit our website at www.LFWA.org/bacteria for the exact locations of our sample sites and for more information about our program. We have a FAQ section that answers some questions about f***l bacteria pollution, what it means for residents, and how to prevent it. We also have a lot of historical data if you're interested in seeing trends.

As we always advise, contact with the creek should be avoided in the locations where the levels are above 410 MPN, especially by those with open sores. And no drinking the water or swimming. Wash, wash, wash if you do get in the water.

The Brookmont and Minnehaha sites are lovely, so maybe plan a trip to them? Find their location on our website. We have a nice interactive map.

07/02/2026

Want more fireflies? Here's some tips from Homegrown National Park on how you can attract fireflies to your yard with just a few small changes to your landscaping.

Small changes in your yard can help fireflies thrive. Est. Read Time: 5 min Summer evenings used to come with a light show. Warm air, bare feet, and tiny sparks drifting through the dark – fireflies were part of what made the season feel alive. World Firefly Day is coming up, and it’s a good [.....

07/02/2026

Patriotic native flowers!

Native Flowers, Summer Sun and Red, White & Blue

06/26/2026

Doesn't look good this weekend for playing in the creek. All our sites failed, even our new site on the Potomac at Sycamore Island. www.LFWA.org/bacteria
The conventional wisdom is to wait 2 to 3 days before the creek is safe - however, some of our testing sites rarely fall to the "safe" level, so it's best to just check our website to see what it looks like. We have trend charts from last year to give you an idea of what the sites look like over the season.