A big impact on the entire Potomac watershed

This much snow is certainly difficult, but the volume will certainly also challenge the South Branch watershed with potential flooding, and the salt used to treat the roads will have the most negative impacts. The larger Potomac watershed (including the Shenandoah, Monocacy, and of course the North Branch and South Branch) is bearing the full impact of this storm.

It's coming, soon.

Read more (much more) at https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2016/01/12/everything-you-need-to-know-about-snow-in-washington-d-c/

Relevent upcoming webinars

National Water Quality Monitoring Council Webinar Series – NWQMC webinars are archived athttps://www.youtube.com/user/NWQMC. Visit http://acwi.gov/monitoring/webinars/index.html for more information.

Water Quality Evolution from Industrialization to the Age of the Internet -- January 19, 2016 (1:00 pm EST) -- Presentation by Ted Stets, USGS -- This talk will focus on trends in nitrate and indicators of river acidification from the late 19th century to the present in the context of distinct periods of development in the U.S.  Pre-registration is REQUIRED. To register, click here.  Once your registration has been approved, you will receive a confirmation email with instructions for joining the Webinar.

Cyanobacteria Monitoring: Perspectives from EPA Region 1 --February 23, 2016 (1:00 pm EDT)  -- Presentation by Hilary Snook, EPA -- The webinar will present the tools, methods, and approaches that have been developed by EPA Region 1 in order to establish consistent monitoring and data collection efforts for addressing cyanobacteria harmful algal bloom issues. Pre-registration is REQUIRED.  To register, click here.

River levels this week

We captured the change in the smallest of the three channels on the river this week.

A holiday tree display for naturalists

Blue catfish downstream in the tidal Potomac River

Brian Schmidt catching invasive Blue catfish on the lower Potomac in Arlington County, Virginia.

Wool - a renewable resource from a lawnmower

Potomac River Partnership Information Exchange.

Brent Walls of the Upper Potomac Riverkeeper speaking to a full house (over 50 people) at the Potomac Watershed Partnership in Shephardstown.

Fun with City Friends

Female Ginkgo Trees?

We'll pay you $0.10 for every ginkgo seed you collect for us (same with chestnuts if you can ID the Chestnut tree or collect some leaves).

Producing female G. biloba trees is one of our four big tree projects at the Wood House Research Farm. This photo from Blandy Farm yesterday is (like so many things at Blandy Farm) my model of success with ginkgoes some day.

Ginkgoes at Blandy Farm at the Virginia State Arboretum near Boyce, Virginia.

The form, color and unique leaf shape are just a few reasons why we're working to maintain the Ginkgo gene pool here in Hampshire County. Literally (and taxonomically), there is no tree quite like it, and there hasn't been for probably millions of years. There is only one other group of trees that have free-swimming sperm.

As street trees they are stunning, but the seeds from the female trees smell like a whole kindergarten class all vomited in the same spot.  So planners began buying only male trees, which nurseries produced largely by cuttings (one strategy for cloning).  That means a disease could be advantaged by this narrow gene pool and wipe out all trees in a city.