Next Meeting: April 5, 2007

Hola, the next meeting will be held on the normal date (first Thursday of the month) at the regular location (Penn. Ave. Baptist church 1st floor) at 6:30PM. Hope to see you there. April 5, 2007.

Update (4/2/07): This just in --

Our Scheduled April Meeting of the Alliance is Thursday April 05, 2007 from 6:00 to 7:30 p.m. The meeting will be held at our usual location "The Pennsylvania Avenue Baptist Church located at 3000 Pa. Ave., SE Washington, DC 20020".

Please note the 6:00 start time. We need to encourage and help all that are willing to participate. There have been some that can meet early and some that need a later time. I feel we can accommodate all by starting at 6 and ending at 7:30. The results of this change will extend the end time by ½ hour, but it accommodates all starting time requests so far. We can discuss this issue at this month's meeting.

Reporting from the Citizen's Summit, by Joseph Glover

On Saturday March 24, 2007 we attended the 1st Annual Anacostia Watershed Citizens' Summit from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the University of Maryland Stamp Student Union Prince George's Room. The Pope Branch Restoration Alliance was represented by Joseph A. Glover, Founder and Chairman; Mr. Irv Sheffey, Sierra Club; Mr. Charles Mason, Mr. Kwame Brown's Office (At-Large DC City Councilmember) and Ms. Trinh Doan, DDOE. We thank all of the attendees and offer a special thanks to Mr. Kwame Brown for participating. Also, we thank Mr. Irv Sheffey for producing out Power Point Presentation (PPP). We were extremely blessed to have such an illustrious group representing our Sub-Watershed - The Pope Branch Park Restoration Alliance.

At the summit each Sub-watershed were allowed to make a five minute presentation. Most had a PPP. I presented for Pope Branch Alliance Sub-Watershed. It was my 1st experience with a PPP, but I think it went pretty well. Some of the other Sub-Watersheds are very well organized and seeing their displays and presentations was a learning experience for me. I plan to put to practice what I learned. I have already provided additional data for improving our power point presentation.
The Summit included two panels with members of the Sub-Water Sheds making up the panels. I represented the Pope Branch Park Restoration Alliance group on the 2nd panel. They wanted to know our successes, and that was easy for me. Since we were the only Sub-Watershed group with a fully funded restoration plan with an approved and signed MOU and projected plans that should lead to the restoration of one of the two Anacostia River Sub-Watersheds in the city. Also, we were the only group that had representation from an elected official. We feel Washington, DC and Ward 7 were well represented by us.

We were very impressed with every aspect of the summit and hope it becomes an annual occurrence. In my opinion it is these types of affairs that will speed up the day when the Anacostia River will become appealing for its cleanliness and beauty. It will then take its rightful place with other grand and important rivers of the world.

If you questions, please address them to Joseph A. Glover at my Email address jagbfree@comcast.net or by phoning 202-581-1214.

Sincerely,

Joseph A. Glover, Pope Branch Park Restoration Alliance Founder and Chairman

Annacostia Watershed Citzen's Summit

Tomorrow is the First Annual Anacostia Watershed Citizen's Summit.
Time: 8:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
Place: University of Maryland Stamp Student Union
Join with members of citizen subwatershed groups across the Anacostia watershed for this opportunity to learn, network and collaborate! Registration is required. Our keynote speaker will be the Honorable Tom Dernoga, Prince Georges Co.'s council member. Pope Branch Park Restoration Alliance has been invited to be on the panel on organizational issues. We will discuss the our subwatershed's top priorities, issues of concern and needs. More importantly, the panels will talk about what works and what doesn't work. Joseph Glover will lead the Pope Branch Park discussion with Trinh Doan, Irv Sheffey and Albertta Paul.

The Pope Branch Park Restoration Alliance would like to (1) work to ensure "Pope Branch Park Sewer & Stream Restoration Project" is accomplished within a reasonable time frame, (2) outreach in building membership and educating the public, (3) trash & erosion control & removal of trash and invasive non-native plants, (4) incorporate and become a 501(c)3 to more efficiently supply the park's needs.

Our restoration priorities include: (1) public education and outreach, (2) water quality monitoring, and (3) use native plants to help stabilize stream bank. Pope Branch's greatest successes to date comprise of (1) more than 39 years of care and advocating for Pope Branch Park & related areas, (2) advocated for a community & mulit-agency Alliance to fund & develop the "Pope Branch Sewer and Stream Restoration Project" with the DDOE, DDPR & DCWASA, (3) 2007 MLK, Jr. National Day of Service event in west Pope Branch Park with more than 120 volunteers representing more than a dozen organizations and groups that cleaned and removed invasive non-native plants. The preliminary restoration recommendations along our subwatershed is to see the Project to its successful completion, to remove and/or control invasive (non-native) plants, and to work with community and government to accomplish the needs of the park.

Pope Branch Park's main source of organizational needs include (1) outreach, (2) a maintenance plan that consists of community folks, federal and local government representatives working cooperatively as partners, and (30 a plan to control mosquitoes that carry the West Nile Virus.

Come join us in our discussion of the Anacostia Watershed restoration efforts. Groups that are invited to the summit are: Friends of Sligo Creek, Neighbors fo the Northwest Branch, Eyes of Paint Branch, Citizens to Conserve and Restore Indian Creek, Beaverdam Creek Watershed Watch Group, Friends of Still Creek, Friends of Lower Beaverdam Creek, and Watts Branch Community Alliance. We will have continental breakfast and provide lunch. Everyone is welcomed so long there is room at the Stamp Student Union conference room.