No Pain Felt by Deer in Sharpshooting Effort

The deer to be culled in the Chevy Chase portion of Rock Creek Park will feel no pain, a natural resource specialist with Montgomery Parks assured Patch.

When news broke about the upcoming culling of deer in Chevy Chase's Rock Creek Stream Valley Park (Unit 2)—the 277-acre part of the park between East-West Highway and the Capital Beltway—many Patch readers expressed concern for the deer, especially pregnant deer. "I understand that there are too many deer. What I don't understand is why this hunt is in February and March when the female deer (doe) are heavily pregnant and ready to give birth. This just adds to the suffering..." Patch user Madelaine Waltjen Shedlick wrote in the comments section of a Jan. 9 Chevy Chase Patch story on the upcoming deer culling. "I totally agree with Madelaine about the deer hunting situation. Please thin the herds in a humane manner so that we will continue …

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Deer-Culling Effort Approaches in Chevy Chase

Certified park police sharpshooters will begin culling the deer herd in Chevy Chase's Rock Creek Stream Valley Park starting Feb. 11.

It's official: Some of Chevy Chase's deer population will be reduced. Starting Feb. 11, certified police sharpshooters from Montgomery Parks will cull the deer herd in Chevy Chase's Rock Creek Stream Valley Park (Unit 2)—the 277-acre part of the park between East-West Highway and the Capital Beltway. "Highly trained and certified Park Police Sharpshooters will lethally remove deer from the park, under very stringent guidelines and in the most humane way possible," according to a statement from the park and planning commission. Sharpshooting will take place when the park is closed to the public—from 5:30 p.m. until sunrise, through March 31, 2013, and will recur annually from Jan. 1 through the end of March as necessary, the statement added…

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Are Deer's Days Doomed in Chevy Chase?

Montgomery Parks proposes adding a park area in Chevy Chase to the county's deer management program.

It's not your imagination—the local deer population really is booming. The number of deer inhabiting a section of Rock Creek Park in Chevy Chase is more than three times what is recommended for the area, according to a news statement from the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission. A study by the park and planning commission "indicated that 40 to 50 deer inhabit the 275 acres of parkland located within the boundary of Interstate 495 and East-West Highway," in what is referred to by the commission as Rock Creek Stream Valley Park, Unit 2, Chevy Chase. To control the deer population, Montgomery Parks proposes adding Rock Creek Stream Valley Park, Unit 2, to the county's deer management program, and is accepting public comment…

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Sharpshooting Approved to Control Deer Population in Rock Creek Park

The National Park Service will employ lethal and non-lethal means to control the deer population.

Sharpshooters will be used to thin the deer population in the Washington, D.C. portions of Rock Creek Park. The National Park Service recently approved a program of lethal and non-lethal means to reduce the deer population to prevent overgrazing that harms native plants. “This decision will allow us to start restoring native vegetation, protecting the diverse communities of plants and animals that live here, and preserving the natural and cultural resources in Rock Creek Park for this and future generations," said park Superintendent Tara Morrison in a prepared statement. In 2009, the NPS estimated that there were 67 deer per square mile. The goal density adopted in May is 15 to 20 deer per square mile because that is the "appropriate …

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Park Service Looks to Expand MoCo Deer Killing to DC's Rock Creek Park

Approval for the sharpshooting may come as early as Feb. 13.

By Varun Saxena, Capital News Service Rock Creek Park officials are waiting for National Park Service approval of a plan that allows to them employ sharpshooters to reduce the deer population in the Washington, DC, section of the park, as is done in Montgomery County. Approval may come as early as Feb. 13. Without action to control the deer population, Rock Creek Park will become nothing more than a "tangle of trees" that don't represent the native habitat because of overgrazing by deer, said Park Ranger Nick Bartolomeo. Rock Creek Park rangers and biologists fenced areas of the park to protect them from deer. They found that the undergrowth in the protected areas was healthier and more diverse. Rock Creek Park follows the Rock Creek from …

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Building a Green Career

At Rock Creek Conservancy, Braeden Bumpers is making a difference right after graduation

  Braeden Bumpers is spending his first year after college graduation as a Chesapeake Conservation Corps Volunteer at Rock Creek Conservancy in Bethesda. Bumpers is putting his Environmental Studies degree from Elon University into immediate use, coordinating the Conservancy’s Stream Teams as well as handling other projects. “I definitely made the right choice,” says Bumpers, who grew up in Cabin John. “I’m directly making an impact.” A Degree in Environmental Studies Lays the Groundwork for Green Career Options Bumpers did not begin college with a focus on Environmental Studies. “I went to Elon undecided,” says Bumpers.  “I took a bunch of classes to figure out what was interesting to me, and really liked the Environmental Studies courses…

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Green Around Town

Rock Creek Conservancy Debuts At Bethesda Green

Rock Creek Conservancy has a new name and a new home, but their mission to preserve Rock Creek will never waiver.

The newly renamed Rock Creek Conservancy held an evening open house Tuesday at their new home at Bethesda Green. The Conservancy now shares office space with other green startups at the downtown headquarters as part of Bethesda Green’s incubator program. The Rock Creek Conservancy is a nonprofit group working to protect and restore Rock Creek and its waters, parks and lands. Rock Creek covers 1,700 acres and 33 miles of creek running through the Washington metropolitan area, and the Conservancy focuses on the creek and surrounding area in Maryland and Washington, D.C. It’s a unique swath of green for anyone driving from D.C.  A drive through parkland is a rarity for cities and a relief for local residents who love the outdoors. I used to …

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Patchers Help Clean Up Creek

Patch editors joined local residents to clean up Rock Creek and Rock Creek Park on Saturday, April 9.

Overcast skies and chilly temperatures didn't deter some intrepid area residents —including some Patch editors—from participating in a volunteer effort to clean up Rock Creek and Rock Creek Park along Beach Drive last Saturday, April 9. The sixth annual cleanup, organized by David Lysy of Silver Spring, netted at least a dozen trash bags full of junk ... and some very wet socks. The results were worth the effort, though—a cleaner, greener Rock Creek and park for everyone to enjoy. Click through the slideshow to see local residents and Patch editors in action.

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Rock Creek Flooding Human-Generated

The impervious cityscape washes flood-inducing levels of water into Rock Creek, but experts say residents can change that.

Navigating the roads that hurtle down Rock Creek Park towards downtown Washington, D.C. can prove hazardous enough to some motorists. But, as all experienced commuters who use this route are well aware, there is another element to the winding thoroughfare that can compound difficulties: the gushing, road-side tributary which funnels into the Chesapeake and the park's namesake itself, Rock Creek. The curb-creeping danger of Rock Creek flooding is common knowledge among Chevy Chase residents. But there's also something about the season-dictated danger that many of them don't know, says river expert Beth Mullin: they have they power to stop it.       Mullin is the Executive Director of Friends of Rock Creek's Environment, a non-profit whose …

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