A Summary of Comments Submitted to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on the Proposed Belle Haven Floodwall and Levee 

On August 29, 2022, the Friends of Dyke Marsh (FODM) submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (ACE or Corps), requesting all comments and any suggested alternatives submitted to the Corps, on their Draft Integrated Feasibility Report and EA [IFR/EA] (May 2022) for the proposed Belle Haven floodwall and levee.

Each numbered item below links to the document described.

1. Response cover letter from the Corp of Engineers to the FOIA request from R. Myers, FODM Board member

2. Fairfax County comments, redacted

3. DC Coastal Public comments - 280 pages - redacted

4. Arlington County comments, redacted

5. U.S. Environmental Protction Agency comments, redacted

6. Fairfax County Park Authority comments, redacted

7. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - Baltimore District comments, Part 1, asking question, redacted

8. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers - Baltimore District comments, Part 2, redacted

9. George Washington Memorial Parkway comments

10. Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority comments

11. National Marine Fisheries Service, Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office comments, redacted

12. National Park Service comments, redacted

13. Virginia Department of Environmental Quality comments, redacted

14. Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources comments, redacted

The Friends of Dyke Marsh shared a table with the Friends of Huntley Meadows Park on June 16, 2018, at the annual Community Day in Gum Springs, a historically African-American community near the Dyke Marsh Wildlife Preserve.

FODMers Catherine Noonan and Mary Luceri greeted many festival-goers and helped youngsters make colorful birds.  T-Rex and his “friend” dropped by and entertained all.  The event drew 32 vendors and organizations, elected officials, a steel drum band and many guests.

Keeping non-native, invasive plants out of the native plant restoration area along the Haul Road trail is a long-term challenge and efforts began on June 5, 2018, when ten volunteers participated in a training led by National Park Service (NPS) biologist Brent Steury.  Brent stressed that the two priority plants to try to control are Japanese stiltgrass (Microstegium vimineum) and mile-a-minute (Polygonum perfoliatum).  He urged volunteers to pull them out of the ground before they set seed.  “If they set seed, we’ve lost,” he stressed.

There were three active bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) nests in the Dyke Marsh Wildlife Preserve this year, 2018.  We will soon report the number of eaglets that successfully fledged. During the week of June 4, “our” eagles, this year’s birds, left the nest.  Many visitors enjoyed observing them, especially those nesting near the Haul Road trail.

In the spring of 2018, the combination of heavy rains, easterly winds and normal tidal fluctuations due to the moon’s and sun’s gravitational effect created flooding tides in the wetlands of the Dyke Marsh Wildlife Preserve.  Visitors saw  mammals, birds, reptiles, insects and crustaceans foraging on or near the shores and tidal guts.  Some altered some of their foraging patterns, moving to the trails or higher ground than they normally use.  Observers saw abundant land snails climbing cattails and other marsh vegetation. 

Dyke Marsh visitors have had some good skink sightings this spring 2018.  A skink is a type of lizard, typically shiny and with short or no limbs.  Most skinks have tapering tails that they can shed if predators grab them and they usually can regenerate the lost part of the tail. Skinks move quickly.

Virginia has nine native lizard species, according to Alonso Abugattas, Arlington County Natural Resources Manager.   Six of these species are likely in the Washington, D.C., region.  “All lizards native to Virginia in the genus Plestiodon have bright blue tails as juveniles/subadults,” according to the Virginia Herpetological Society’s website.

On May 9, 2018, 20 dedicated volunteers and National Park Service (NPS) staffers planted around 1,500 native trees and plants on .65 acres on the west side of the Haul Road trail in Dyke Marsh.  Among others, the group planted spicebush and winterberry; trees included sycamore, tulip tree, cottonwood, maples and black gum; "phorbs" included wing stem, pyeweed, tick-trefoil and moonflower vine plus grasses such as deer-tongue, Virginia rye and riverside rye.

Determining the habitat quality of a stream flowing into Dyke Marsh from the west was the quest on May 5, 2018, when FODM volunteers conducted some biological testing of the stream flowing through Mount Vernon District Park.  FODMers partnered with the Westgrove Dog Park PACK organization and led by Dan Schwartz, Northern Virginia Soil and Water Conservation District, took 20 samples from the stream within a 300-foot span, with the goal of identifying 100 living invertebrates. The group found 55 invertebrates, fewer than the desired 100.  Forty of the 55 were scuds, considered to be impairment tolerant organisms.

On May 4, 2018, 30 very curious youngsters from St. Luke’s Episcopal Church Preschool visited the Dyke Marsh Wildlife Preserve.  Their teacher, Jennifer Gough, prepared a scavenger hunt guide for them to use in spotting plants, animals, rocks and other “finds.”

Around 250 raptor fans admired beautiful birds of prey at FODM’s annual Raptor Rapture on April 21, 2018, a beautiful, sunny day in Belle Haven Park.  Raptor Conservancy of Virginia experts brought an Eastern screech owl (Megascops asio), a red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis), a red-shouldered hawk (Buteo lineatus), an American kestrel (Falco sparverius) and a merlin (Falco columbarius), all “rescue birds.” 

With clear blue skies, a bright sun and a gentle breeze, 80 eager volunteers cleaned up trash along the Dyke Marsh and Belle Haven Park shoreline on April 14, 2018, for three hours at low tide.  Many youngsters got school service credit. Everyone got exercise and a great feeling of accomplishment as the bags piled up.