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~ Protecting the health, beauty,
and enjoyment of
the Potomac River and
its tributaries ~

Banner image by
Don Chernoff

Volunteer

• Meet Other River Lovers! - Ongoing
• Potomac Conservancy Internships

Events & Trips

• Woodland Options for Virginia Landowners Workshop - January 11, 18, 23, and February 8.
• Water Stewardship Team Leader Training - January 17

Speak Up!

• C&O CANAL THREATENED

News & Notes

• Holiday Gift Giving Made Easy by Potomac Conservancy!
• New! Download music by Washington, D.C.’s Ethan Pomerance
• Going Nuts: A Certifiable Case
• One Fish, Two Fish, Boy Fish, Girl Fish?
• Virginia Seeks Hunters' Help Against Avian Flu
• Completed Boat Ramp Expands Public Access to North Branch Potomac
• Global Warming and the Bay
• Inquiry Turns To Humans On Pollutant, Hormone Tie

Professional Opportunities

• President and CEO
• Director of Headwaters Conservation

Support the Conservancy

• Hassle-Free Workplace Giving
• Potomac Conservancy Wish List
  

Potomac Conservancy Interships

Potomac Conservancy seeks highly motivated individuals interested in interning for a professional conservation organization in winter 2006/spring 2007. Opportunities are available in Communications, Policy, Finance, and Restoration.

Interns will work directly with Conservancy staff and will assume independent responsibility for substantive projects. Applicants should demonstrate maturity, strong verbal and written communication skills, an ability to work independently, a high degree of organization, and a commitment to the Potomac Conservancy's mission.

The duration and time requirements for each internship opportunity vary. A minimum commitment of 16 hours per week for 8-10 weeks is preferred. Limited stipends may be available on a competitive basis.

To apply for a Potomac Conservancy internship, send a resume and cover letter describing your interest and experience to info@potomac.org.

C&O CANAL THREATENED

The National Park Service is processing a request from a landowner in Montgomery County, Maryland to establish a private right-of-way across the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historical Park.

The proposed project would establish a permanent 8-inch water line from the Potomac River to privately-owned land outside the park. In addition, a trailer-mounted, diesel-powered pump would be located within the park, pumping water from the river upland to the farm.

Are diesel pumps appropriate in our national parks? The park is woefully under funded and is facing threats like this EVERYDAY, so it needs the help of all the walkers, jogger, bikers, birders, fisherpeople, paddlers and others that benefit from its quiet trails and forested waters.

At the public hearing on December 6 you can ask questions and/or make comments regarding the project. Make your voice heard on this potential threat to our beloved C&O Canal!

WHEN: Wednesday, December 6th from 6 to 8pm

WHERE: Poolesville High School, Room 64, 17501 West Willard Road, Poolesville, Maryland 301-972-7900

Holiday Gift Giving Made Easy By Potomac Conservancy!

Choose a beautiful full-color photo book for the river-lover in your life. Potomac Conservancy's Online River Bookstore offers vivid texts documenting the colorful wildlife and beauty of the Potomac Watershed.

Our selection includes Wild Washington: Amazing Wildlife in and Around Our Nation's Capital by Don Chernoff, featuring 108 pages of brilliant photographs of birds, insects, and other creatures that call the DC area home.

Our Potomac: From Great Falls through Washington, DC by Roy Sewall will take you on an awe-inspiring journey of this stretch of the river like no book before. Featuring 216 full-color photos, Our Potomac captures the river’s transformation from raging falls to an idyllic backdrop for Washington’s greatest monuments. By ordering online through Potomac Conservancy, you can get a copy of Our Potomac at a 20% discount! 

Order one of these books online and a portion of the proceeds will benefit Potomac Conservancy.

Order today, while supplies last!

Download music by Washington, D.C.’s Ethan Pomerance  

Click here for MP3 music downloads and to read song lyrics that celebrate two special places in the Potomac watershed.

Ethan's lyrics draw from place and the role it plays in human experience. Through his stories he offers insight into the magic that happens between people and the land.

Going Nuts: A Certifiable Case  

TIMES COMMUNITY.COM — Pamela Fields is known as the “Nut Lady” and not only because she volunteers for such drive-you-bonkers jobs as PTA president and Takoma Soccer coordinator.

Pamela drives around with white sacks of acorns in her car trunk. Piles of acorns roll around on the family front porch on Holly Avenue. Her son, 10-year-old Aaron Richards, keeps special bags in his school backpack so he can grab acorns off the ground while waiting for the bus. On a Sunday in October, at a soccer game for her daughter, eight-year-old Alana Richards, Pamela said “Come with me” to the younger children standing around, and they picked up 30 pounds of nuts under one pin oak at Oak View Elementary.

“I guess the acorns kind of call to us in this nutty family,” the always-smiling Pamela says. It started with Aaron’s wish to “help trees” for Rosh Hashanah four years ago. Pamela, who also holds down a day job in international relations, found out about a program at the Potomac Conservancy, called “Growing Native,” that asks good souls to gather up the seeds of Maryland hardwoods. The seeds are planted at state nurseries, and the seedlings then replanted as riparian buffers along the Potomac River. More>>>

One Fish, Two Fish, Boy Fish, Girl Fish?
THE CONNECTION NEWSPAPERS

As Potomac River bass have gender issues, local utilities work to clean drinking water.

While investigating the cause of some fish kills in the upper Potomac River, Vicki Blazer and a team of government scientists found a different problem. The male fish — both largemouth and smallmouth bass — were exhibiting female characteristics, such as carrying egg cells.

Now Blazer's group, which is part of the U.S. Geological Survey, is studying both issues. While the focus of their study is fish, the scientists can't ignore the possible effects downstream in the Potomac River where more than three million residents of the region get their drinking water. "There is a concern in the human population," said Blazer, a fish pathologist. "Fish actually have the same endocrine systems as humans have."

The highest concentrations of fish with signs of gender problems were in the Shenandoah River, Monocacy Creek and the South Branch of the Potomac, Blazer said. They have also found some near Washington, D.C.'s Blue Plains treatment facility.   More>>>

Virginia Seeks Hunters' Help Against Avian Flu 
RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH

RICHMOND, VA — Waterfowl hunters in Virginia are being enlisted in the fight against avian flu.

Along eastern Virginia's waterways, the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries is scouting out hunters at wildlife-management areas, popular hunting spots and boat ramps. Then, some hunters are asked by game officials to allow a swab of their bagged game to test for the highly pathogenic version of H5N1 avian flu, according to Bob Ellis, assistant director of the department's wildlife division.

Species being sampled include tundra swan, mute swan, snow goose, Atlantic brant and mallards.  More>>>

Completed Boat Ramp Expands Public Access to North Branch Potomac 
CUMBERLAND TIMES-NEWS

CUMBERLAND, MD —With the recent opening of the public boat launch at the Allegany County Fairgrounds, the recreational river-floating puzzle on the North Branch of the Potomac from Westernport to Cumberland is one, maybe two pieces away from being completed, according to a state fishery biologist.

"It's awesome that the launch at the fairgrounds is finally open. It's been a long time coming," said Alan Klotz, who manages Western Maryland fisheries for the Maryland Inland Fisheries Division.

Mark W. Yoder, chief of Allegany County's Utility Division, designed the ramp, which is reached by crossing the railroad tracks at the fairgrounds and entering through the gate at the immediate right. A fence separates the ramp entrance from the main fairgrounds. More>>>

Global Warming and the Bay
CHESAPEAKE QUARTERLY

No doubt about it. The earth is warming. Projections for future climate change predict a global increase of 2 to 10°F by the end of the century. And there is no question that human activities — the burning of fossil fuels and the dismantling of the world's great forests — have woven a blanket of greenhouse gases, mainly carbon dioxide, which now insulates the Earth from above.

Globally, we have begun to see the effects of warming temperatures. We've all heard the statistics. Five of the hottest years in recorded history have occurred in the past decade. Glaciers and ice sheets are melting. Sea level is rising.

Global warming has also begun to seep into the public consciousness — even as it remains politically contentious. People are talking about it. Journalists are writing about it. Movies like The Day After Tomorrow and An Inconvenient Truth have brought strong messages to a broad public. More>>>

Inquiry Turns To Humans On Pollutant, Hormone Tie
Evidence Such as Eggs In Male Fish Spurs Push

WASHINGTON POST— Growing evidence that chemicals in the environment can interfere with animals' hormone systems -- including the discovery that male Potomac River fish are growing eggs -- has focused the attention of environmentalists and scientists on a new question: Are humans also at risk?

A decade ago, the very idea that pollutants could interfere with a body's chemical messages was near the fringes of science. But now, it is an urgent topic for lawmakers and researchers around the world, and especially in the Washington area.

In recent years, researchers have linked some common chemicals to troubling changes in laboratory rodents and wild animals, including reproductive defects, immune-system alterations and obesity. More>>>

President and CEO

The board of directors of the Potomac Conservancy is undertaking a search for President and CEO. The search is being conducted by executive search firm Slesinger Management Services. The complete job announcement, including application instructions, has been posted at www.SlesingerManagement.com. All inquiries, recommendations, and applications should go directly to the search firm.

Director of Headwaters Conservation

The Directors of Headwaters Conservation will take the lead in securing conservation easements in targeted watersheds within the headwaters of the Potomac River. The Director is responsible for carrying out existing Conservancy land protection efforts in the region, as well as helping to create a strategic vision for the protection of landscapes vital to protecting water quality. The ideal candidate has a passion for communicating conservation opportunities with private landowners and experience in executing conservation easements.

Learn more and apply>>>

Hassle-Free Workplace Giving 
If your company conducts an annual United Way Campaign, participating is a no-hassle way for you to support Potomac Conservancy's efforts to protect the rivers and streams you care about. Simply take part by selecting designation #8158. If you are a government employee, participate in the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) of the National Capital Area and choose designation #8158. Virginia state employees can take part in the Commonwealth of Virginia Campaign (CVC) by selecting a different code, #8218, for Potomac Conservancy.

United Way, CFC, and CVC are conducted September through December and provide a convenient approach to giving through monthly payroll deductions.

Select United Way/CFC #8158 and CVC #8218 today!

Make a Wish Come True!
Potomac Conservancy’s wish list includes the following new or gently used items. Your donation will help us reach our conservation goals while channeling more of our financial contributions directly to projects.

• Several fire-safe filing cabinets or safes for important documents
• Tools for restoration projects, including loppers, small hand-saws and pruning shears
• Large metal shelving units to help organize our storage space
• A paper shredder for destroying sensitive documents

We are also seeking a volunteer to sew a new costume for our Growing Native acorn mascot.

To learn more about our wish list and how you can help, contact Monica at 301.608.1188 x201 or info@potomac.org.