November 2024 Newsletter

FoMVT Volunteer Leaders Attend Tree Steward Training

The Friends of the Mount Vernon Trail believes in the importance of training and education to help us become the best caretakers of the trail. Three FoMVT volunteer leaders recently took part in a 10-week training hosted by Tree Stewards of Arlington & Alexandria to learn about tree identification, pruning, planting, urban tree problems, pests, soils, stormwater, and invasive species. Our volunteer leaders learned a lot and are excited to teach others the best practices and techniques. In total FoMVT has four trained tree stewards, 22 trained weed warriors, and four Wilderness First Aid-trained volunteer leaders.

Trainee Pete Nuwayser shared, “The Tree Stewards training has awakened my curiosity. It's like learning a new culture or language, in that I can better see and appreciate the biodiversity that’s always been there. We can’t wait to share this knowledge and use it to inform our FoMVT work.”

2024 FoMVT Tree Steward Trainees Pete Nuwayser, Matt Gluth, and Sara Carioscia, with Tree Steward Russ Bailey and a young swamp white oak, at a planting event at Four Mile Run Park

Pothole Palooza

We have been busy filling potholes all along the trail. Most notably we filled a long linear pothole near Bridge 29c which was a well-known trip hazard among trail users.

October Recap

In October we hosted 3 volunteer events with 100 volunteers giving 214 volunteer hours. We also had a good time at the ALX Dog Walk Garden Restoration Party on October 8th where we got to see the improvements to the King Street Garden Park.

We are 52 volunteers short of surpassing the total volunteer count from 2023. Help us beat last year’s record! Register to attend an upcoming event.