Neighbor News
Piedmont Helps Homeowners Learn to 'Multitask' Green Landscape
SRO Crowd at Algonkian Talks Stormwater, Stream Restoration and Community Planting
By Mike Smith
GreenSmith Public Affairs
South Riding, Virginia
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The Piedmont Environmental Council, with help from Loudoun County’s Stormwater Manager, Hydrogeologist and Forester, educated homeowner’s associations and community outreach groups this week on how to multitask when it comes to landscaping. The idea is that multiple green objectives can be met with landscape work including reducing stormwater which ultimately flows into the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
Creative solutions for stream restoration, flood plain restoration and removal of legacy sediment from waterways were presented. Kelly Gutshall, a “Watershed Champion” and owner of LandStudies, Inc. in Lititz, Penn., brought slides and award-winning ideas to share from her communities.
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“With the Chesapeake Bay Watershed’s explosive growth, larger land and water areas like Goose Creek and Broad Run ecosystems are being disrupted,” said Gem Bingol, Loudoun field officer with PEC. Since over 60 percent of Loudoun residents live in Homeowner’s Association (HOA) communities, and HOAs cover 33,700 acres of land here, “we have to decide to do things differently,” said Bingol. “And we’ve got a powerhouse group in you” as residents. “It is an individual and local decision to preserve land, respond to change and help your residents take action.”
Over 150 people representing communities like Ashburn Village, Ashburn Farms, Broadlands, Cascades, Sugarland Run and more were at the Algonkian Regional Park clubhouse last night to hear ideas on changing habits. It’s not about “serial mowing” anymore and straight-edged curb lines; now residents want more natural beauty with less environmental impact.
The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s Chesapeake Bay Stewardship Fund supports community outreach, including PEC, and regional governments like Loudoun County. Jake Reilly, director of the Bay Program, said these education and grassroots campaigns are “where the rubber meets the road” in Bay restoration.
Gutshall has worked in landscape solutions for decades and now using GIS mapping to see where communities can change and improve. “Monoculture (of turf grass) can change to diversity,” she said. With all of the development in Loudoun County, “you can hear the grinding of change and it’s important for HOA Communities and this Watershed not to be overwhelmed. We all live downstream from someone so let’s start with the headwaters and not just react to development.”
She believes natural ponds here have been expanded to become stormwater retention ponds rather than letting floodplains do what they are supposed to, flood. A floodplain can offer wetland protection and an environmental education for a community.
“Get projects in the ground and let the community engage with them” through HOA green programs and planting. Gutshall said there are economical ways to make wildflower fields or do stream work.
Homeowners Association leaders took home new ideas. This year, Broadlands will add to its three floating islands as part of a NFWF-supported wetlands project, said PEC leaders.
