Neighbors of the Northwest Branch

05/12/2026

Last week I represented Neighbors of the Northwest Branch for a cleanup at Wheaton Regional Park with students from the Charles E Smith JDS. The park was quite clean resulting in only one bag of trash collected but what was most important was the chance to encourage environmental stewardship. It was a fun morning with the students.

05/09/2026

Today Phillip and I led a group of eight volunteers who helped to cleanup an area in the Northwest Branch Stream Valley. What a great group they were! Together we removed over 600 lbs of trash from the park. It wasn’t easy with some oversized objects weighing close to 100 lbs and located far from the drop off point. This is the fourth cleanup of the area where illegal dumping had occurred. Additional cleanups will focus on the storm water channel leading to the Northwest Branch. My thanks to all!

05/06/2026

Volunteers needed to cleanup the NWB at McAlpine Road this Saturday from 9-11am. Registration for this event is currently only 13. We really need more to make an impact. If you are free this coming Saturday please consider joining me and the Neighbors of the Northwest Branch to help protect our watershed. The link to register is below:

Join Montgomery Parks & Neighbors of Northwest Branch at a volunteer park cleanup! Help beautify your community green spaces, keep litter out of our streams, and protect wildlife! *This cleanup will take place on steep and uneven terrain* This cleanup will be for ages 14 & above Children under 14 ye...

04/22/2026

Happy Earth Day! A week ago, NNWB worked with planners at MNCPPC to host a vine cutting workday. They wanted to cut the biggest vines in the woods, and we led them to the vines. 50 total trees were saved, including some from the biggest vines! Thanks to Ed Murtagh and Corinne LS for helping to organize this energetic group! With the Montgomery County, Md., Planning Department

03/16/2026

On Saturday, March 14th 18 volunteers removed 23 60-gallon bags of trash from the Northwest Branch watershed at Lane Manor Park. This cleanup was organized by NNWB in partnership with VineCorps, a youth development and service learning organization in Prince George's County.

Thanks to all who are doing their part to keep our watershed clean!

02/28/2026

On Sunday March 22nd from 10am-12pm there will be another cleanup event of the Northwest Branch at McAlpine Road. For more details and to register for the event please click on the link below. Thank you!

Join Montgomery Parks & Neighbors of Northwest Branch at a volunteer park cleanup! Help beautify your community green spaces, keep litter out of our streams, and protect wildlife! Children under 14 years old must volunteer with a parent/guardian. All cleanups are pre-approved for SSL hours*. Forms a...

01/31/2026

On Saturday February 14 Friends of Sligo Creek will be co-hosting a trash cleanup with the Potomac Conservancy at two locations close to the confluence with the Northwest Branch. Below are links to each cleanup location with details. Please register for the event that you wish to attend so that you can receive updates on the cleanup.

https://potomac.org/pc-events/2026/2/14/potomac-river-cleanup-at-green-meadows-park-md

https://potomac.org/pc-events/2025/4/2/potomac-river-cleanup-at-sligo-creek-trail-amp-md

01/30/2026

Thank You W**d Warriors! In 2025 W**d Warriors volunteered 1,171 hours freeing freeing 1,855 trees and removing countless invasive plants in the Northwest Branch watershed alone. Countywide, W**d Warriors volunteered almost 14,000 hours! We need more W**d Warrior help. Most of the NWB efforts were in a few park units in the watershed. If you want to help us protect our watershed, volunteer at one of our W**d Warrior events or you can learn how you can become a W**d Warrior at www.weedwarrior.org

01/19/2026

Today I was the co-leader with Cob of a cleanup in the Northwest Branch. In spite of the cold twenty enthusiastic volunteers showed up. What a great team! It was a challenging cleanup not just because there was so much trash but also because it had to be carried out of the woods up steep terrain with fallen trees and other obstacles in the way. We removed twenty tires, twenty bags of trash and lots of bulk items. A total of 1040 lbs. And there’s still more to do. Thank you to all for their help.