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New Sligo Data Reveal 97
Bee Species & Two County Firsts
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The most
abundant species collected was
this
member of the sweat bee family, Agopostemon viriscens. Its
many hairs help it collect and
spread
pollen. (J. Nanze photo) | |
Sligo is
home to nearly a fourth of all 421 bee species known in
Maryland, including two documented for the first time in
Prince George's County, according to data tabulated by
Sligo ecologist Rhonda Kranz just in time for National
Pollinator Week (June 20-26).
She and her team of volunteers
collected 2,084 bees in 2014 in the half-mile stretch of
the powerline corridor that crosses Sligo between East
West Highway and 16th Place. A total of 97 species bees
were identified at the USGS Patuxent Wildlife Research
Center's Native Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab by
staff and volunteers under the guidance of entomologist
Sam Droege. The results are now posted here on our website,
including newly revised data and analysis from the 2013
survey.
Rhonda's team of field workers
included Carolyn Frank, Dean
Tousley, Deanna
Anderson, Jim Anderson,
Sally Taber, Brian Brown, and
Timothy McMahon. Timothy also
helped at the lab to identify species.
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 , | | Only one individual was
found for 16 of the species, including this member of
the polyester bee
family, Colletes inaequalis. (J. Rapp photo)
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The
two-year study documented 97 species in 27 genera and five
families. At least two of the species (and perhaps as many
as six) had not been documented before in Prince George's
County, where the powerline site is located. One is a
species in the sweat bee family and the other in the family
of leaf-cutting and mining bees.
FOSC has been
working with Pepco since 2008 to reduce mowing in
this stretch of the powerline and allow a shrubby
meadow-grassland to emerge. Even though no planting
has been done, the seed bank had yielded 120 species
of flowering plants by 2013 and thus rich pollen and
nectar resources for bees.
The single most
abundant bee species was a kind of sweat bee called
Agopostemon viriscens (photo above), which
accounted for nearly one in five individuals collected in
2014. Unlike many bees that are active only a few weeks
each year, this species was found throughout the sampling
period, from mid-April to early-November.
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One of Sligo's few parasitic species
is Sphecodes atlantis, whose minimal body hair reflects
its inability to collect pollen on its own.(L. Packer photo)
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Overall, the majority
of bees came from the sweat bee family, including
nearly two-thirds
in 2014. Four of
the five most abundant genera in 2014 were also from the
sweat bee family. (The fifth was a genus in the family of
bumblebees, carpenter bees, and related species.) One sweat
bee genus, Lasioglossum, was the most diverse, with 26
species in the two years.
Fortunately for
us, these tiny sweat bees rarely sting, as they don't
defend their nests like the highly social insects
and are rarely disturbed when foraging for nectar and
pollen. Easily overlooked, these bees nest mostly in small
holes they dig in the ground.
-- Michael
Wilpers
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| Outing at Sligo and NW Branch Confluence
June 18
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Jorge Montero leads outing at
Sligo's confluence with NW Branch in 2015. (Ann Hoffnar
photo) | |
Take a guided
tour of restored meadows and woodlands at the confluence
of Sligo Creek and Northwest Branch with naturalist
Jorge Montero on Saturday, June 18. The group will gather at 9 am on Nicholson St.,
in Hyattsville, where it meets a street called The Mall,
not far from Ager Road. This is about 700 feet north from the confluence of
Sligo Creek and the Northwest Branch. (Apartment buildings
are right across the street.) The easy,
three-hour walk will traverse parkland that has undergone
considerable restoration work since 2012, led by the
Anacostia Watershed Society (AWS), including removal of
non-native invasive plants and planting natives, and
allowing native trees, shrubs, and herbaceous plants
to return, along with the many animals that depend
on them.
The first stop
will be a major kudzu removal project and native plant
restoration. From there, we'll head to the confluence
and a riparian forest along the NW Branch. The
final destination will be Heurich Park to observe
another reforestation project and an old stormwater
pond constructed some years ago by Maryland-National
Capital Park and Planning Commission, which owns the
park.
It's best to wear long pants and closed-toe
shoes and bring insect repellent and drinking water. Poison
ivy is common in the park. Binoculars are always handy,
if you have them, plus any field guides that might
be helpful. A hand lens will allow you to get better
views of the flora and fauna.
Jorge is a
natural resources specialist with AWS and a certified
arborist. This is the second event he has led for
Friends of Sligo Creek.
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Bike Tour of Sligo
June 12
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Participants in the bike
tour get a free pontoon-boat ride at Bladensburg
Park. (AWS photo) |
A few spots still
remain open for an inspiring bike ride along Sligo Creek to
the Anacostia River on Sunday, June 12.
Registration is open
until 10 pm on Friday evening, June 10, by emailing avorce@aol.com.
The ride
starts at 8:30 am at the Channing Drive entrance to
Sligo Creek Park (just above Kemp Mill). Bikers will
traverse several trails along the Anacostia Trail
Tributary System, arriving at Bladensburg Waterfront
Park, on the Anacostia, at 10:30.
Riders will
then watch a presentation on factors that affect water
quality in the creek, after which they can take a one-hour
pontoon boat ride on the Anacostia. At noon, bikers will
depart the Boat House to arrive back in Kemp Mill at about
1:30.
Registrants will receive a route map and
guide, further event details, and priority sign-up for
the pontoon boat ride. In case of rain,
the event will be moved to Sunday, June 19.
The bike tour,
titled "The First Community Bike Ride for Clean
Water: The Sligo Headwaters to the Anacostia," is
supported by a grant to Friends of Sligo Creek from the
Chesapeake Bay Trust, through the Water Quality Protection
Charge Program of Montgomery County's Department of
Environmental Protection.
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| Three Schools Help Pull
Garlic Mustard
More than 100 students from three local
schools joined in pulling invasive garlic mustard from
Sligo Creek Park this spring.
On April 20, 80 sophomores and
faculty from Stone Ridge pulled some 40 bags of garlic
mustard in section 6, just inside the Beltway.
Weed Warrior Supervisors Rita and Paul Marth and
Kathy Treat helped make this successful.
On April 21,
31 students and three faculty members from Landon Middle
School worked to pull garlic mustard in section 7,
just south of Dennis Avenue. We filled all ten bags
and had to put the rest in a large pile to be picked
up later.
On April 30, nine students and one professor
from Montgomery College came out and helped Barbara and
me harvest 14 bags of garlic mustard on Long Branch
creek by the county swimming pool. Thanks to all of these students and teachers
for helping Friends of Sligo Creek with this invasive
plant!
-- Jim
Anderson, Chair of RIP (Remove Invasive Plants)
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Third Water WatchDog Training Focuses
on Sligo Headwaters The third Water WatchDogs
training took place in May, with a focus on the
headwaters area of Sligo Creek Park and surrounding
development. As with the prior two workshops,
water-quality expert Lori Lilly introduced the
participants to easy methods for identifying different
types of water pollution and their sources. Then
Water WatchDogs founders Anne Vorce and Kathleen
Samiy explained the easy email method of reporting
pollution to county authorities.
During the outdoor field portion of the workshop,
Kathy Michels (above, under umbrella) described what
she calls a "man-made waterfall" where stormwater
flowing off the parking lot of Kemp Mill Shopping
Center heads directly toward the creek without
any intervening treatment.
Water-quality expert Lori Lilly
(above) explained the importance and sensitivity of Sligo's
headwaters. She showed the group this deeply incised
stream channel, caused by a high volume of stormwater
rushing down the creek from impervious surfaces in the
surrounding area during heavy rains.
This workshop was made possible,
in part, by a grant from the Chesapeake Bay Trust,
through the Water Quality Protection Charge Program
of Montgomery County's Department of Environmental
Protection.
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New App Unveiled with
360-Degree Views of Sligo
You can now take a virtual
trip along the Sligo Creek trail, thanks to a new app
that provides 360-degree views from anywhere along the
path.
The virtual
trail covers not only the Sligo Creek but ten other trails,
including the Rachel Carson Greenway (Montgomery County),
Indian Creek (PG County), and the Anacostia Riverwalk
(DC). The app is a project of the Anacostia River
Restoration Partnership, led by the Metropolitan Washington
Council of Governments (COG), to promote the Anacostia
Tributary Trail System.
In addition to panoramic images at all
points along each trail, the app provides information on
the length of the trails and their topographic contours,
to judge ease of biking, for example.
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The Sligo Creek
hiker-biker trail is one of ten in the Anacostia Tributary Trail
System. (TERRAIN photo) |
The maps also identify points of
interest, such as
Wheaton Regional Park, Bladensburg Waterfront Park, and
the Aquatic Resources Education Center. Capital Bikeshare
docking stations are pinpointed, and trail-goers
can also tell when a part of the system is under
construction.
Friends
of Sligo Creek will be working with COG to add more
points of interest to the map of Sligo, such as special
nature sites, invasives removal projects, stormwater
control installations, and places of historical
significance.
The panoramic images were captured by
the contractor Terrain360 using cameras mounted on a
backpack and bikes. Terrain360 has created virtual tours
of other trails, waterways, and landscapes, such as the
Shenandoah Valley and the James River.
Additional imagery will
be added when the Anacostia Riverwalk Trail is complete
in October 2016, when the Anacostia Tributary Trail System
will become one of the most extensive urban trails in the
country.
The interactive map is a project
of the Anacostia Watershed Restoration Partnership
(AWRP), a regional effort supported by the District of
Columbia, Montgomery and Prince George's Counties, and
state and federal partners, and led by the Metropolitan
Washington Council of Governments (COG) to coordinate
the restoration and protection of the Anacostia River
watershed.
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President (Kit Gage): president@fosc.org
Invasive
Plants (Jim Anderson): invasives@fosc.org
Litter (Patton Stephens): litter@fosc.org
Advocacy (Bruce Sidwell):
advocacy@fosc.org
Natural History
(Michael Wilpers): naturalhistory@fosc.org
Stormwater
(Elaine Lamirande): stormwater@fosc.org
Water Quality
(Pat Ratkowski): waterquality@fosc.org
Outreach (Sarah Jane Marcus):
outreach@fosc.org
Treasurer (Dee Clarkin; asstnt
treasurer Sherrill Goggin): treasurer@fosc.orgNewsletter Editor
(Michael Wilpers): editor@fosc.org
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Find us on
Facebook! 
Friends of Sligo
Creek is a nonprofit community organization dedicated
to protecting, improving, and appreciating the
ecological health of Sligo Creek Park and its surrounding
watershed. |
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