Despite its famed cherry blossoms, the District of Columbia does not typically come to mind when envisioning outdoor greenspace. However, with its plentiful parks, generous waterfront access, and extensive urban tree canopy, Washington, DC has more to offer in the way of greenspace than one might expect. Despite all these opportunities for recreational and aesthetic enjoyment, ensuring equitable access to greenspaces and meaningful involvement in environmental decision-making presents significant challenges for local leaders.

 

Wandering the District’s Waterways

On November 23rd, 2024, the Wandering the District’s Waterways tour took nine Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners, representing four wards from across the city to visit a collaborative community wellness campus, a historic urban park, and to hear from speakers about the 11th Street Bridge Park and new community resilience hubs. These projects and programs demonstrate innovative approaches to fulfilling community needs through access to greenspace and natural spaces. The tour was funded by a grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

Led by Teria Powell with Building Bridges Across the River (BBAR), the tour began by visiting the expansive Town Hall Education Arts Recreation Campus (THEARC) in Ward 8, east of the Anacostia River. Owned and operated by BBAR, THEARC houses 14 nonprofit organizations and boasts a community theater, gymnasium, libraries, computer labs, performative arts studios, an art gallery, public playgrounds, and an urban farm, to address the needs of underserved children and adults east of the river.

Elected officials then headed outside to view plans for the future 11th Street Bridge Park. Projected to be DC’s first elevated park, the site will run alongside the existing 11th Street vehicular bridge and will feature outdoor performance spaces, playgrounds, rain gardens, urban agriculture, and an environmental education center aimed at teaching students about river systems. Tour attendees were especially interested to hear about how the bridge park’s community-driven planning process has utilized extensive stakeholder input to craft the park into both a public greenspace for recreation and education, but also an anchor for economic growth for adjacent communities. Once completed, the park will bridge both the economic and geographic separation between DC’s Anacostia Park and Washington Navy Yard neighborhoods.

A group of people look at an aerial photo of a bridge

Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners view renderings for the future 11th Street Bridge Park that will connect DC’s Anacostia Park and Washington Navy Yard neighborhoods.

Next, the group met with Dennis Chestnut, Board Chair of the Ward 7 Resilience Hub Community Coalition (RHCC). Over lunch, Mr. Chestnut shared stories about growing up in the District, from exploring the Kenilworth Park Landfill as a young boy, playing in local streams, and learning to swim in the Anacostia river. To ensure future generations remain connected to nature, Chestnut has become a dedicated civic ecologist and works closely with RHCC to create a network of community resilience hubs throughout DC. Community resilience hubs are public-serving facilities that support community members, distribute resources, and increase capacity before, during, and after emergency events; while enhancing community quality of life.

Dennis Chestnut went on to describe the origins and value created by DC’s first pilot resilience hub, the Faunteroy Community Enrichment Center. Created in 2019 by RHCC and the DC Department of Energy & Environment (DOEE), the Center focuses on empowering the community at a multi-generational level by providing “high-quality programming embedded in community and environmental stewardship with opportunities for enrichment, education, and exposure to enable resiliency and sustained successes.” The hub provides the Deanwood community with a full range of resilience services, including outdoor gathering spaces in collaboration with Lederer Gardens. Commissioners left buzzing with ideas around how to apply the principles of resilience hubs to their districts.

Attendees concluded their day with a jaunt around Dumbarton Oaks Park in Georgetown, DC. Lindsey Milstein, director of the Dumbarton Oaks Park Conservancy, guided attendees through the park, providing insight around the intentionally meditative and extensively designed naturalistic landscape created by Beatrix Farrand, America’s first professional female landscape architect. With its carefully-curated meadows, waterfalls, paths and ponds, the park is intended to be an oasis for recreation and learning within nature for DC residents and nearby schools. Elected officials were especially intrigued by the Conservancy’s Leave No Child Inside program, which engages early learners through highschoolers to foster education, recreation, and stewardship.

a group of people stand on a small stone bridge

Lindsey Milstein, President of Dumbarton Oaks Park Conservancy leads local officials on a walking tour of the park.

After touring these different spaces, local officials left with concrete ideas for how to enhance public spaces and better serve residents in their neighborhoods, and excitement about the connections they made with each other.

 

What’s Next for the Wandering Waterways series?

Since its pilot in 2019, the Wandering Waterways series has gathered elected officials in Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, West Virginia, New York, and the Delmarva peninsula to learn about topics including green infrastructure, innovative agricultural practices, clean water initiatives, and solutions to localized flooding.

This spring, the Wandering Waterways series returned to Virginia and Pennsylvania! Elected officials gathered in the Tri-Cities and Hampton Roads regions of VA to discuss how to balance economic growth with environmental sustainability; and in southern PA to focus on collective management of natural resources that span jurisdictional boundaries while preserving local character and fulfilling community needs. Stay tuned for more Wandering Waterways stories!

If you are interested in learning more about the Wandering Waterways tour series, please email at lgac@allianceforthebay.org.