Ready for spring
By Claire Compton
As stewards of Reston's open spaces, Reston Association staff and volunteers are gearing up for a spring cleaning before facilities open and programs begin.
Routine monitoring of Reston's four lakes will begin in April and last until September. Consultants will test the waters for phosphorous, nitrates and dissolved oxygen, and take samples of any algae and phytoplankton.
RA Watershed Manager Nicki Foremsky said the tests let staff know which lakes may need preventative measures before the weather gets really warm and can foster algae blooms.
The RA will hold a stream cleanup on April 5 from 9 a.m. to noon and a lake cleanup in early June. Both events depend on community volunteers.
“We go into the streams and collect as much trash as we can before the rains, so it doesn't wash into the lakes,” Foremsky said.
A much more extensive cleanup will vastly improve the health of the streams and the lakes. That project is being undertaken by Northern Virginia Stream Restoration LLC, a subsidiary of Wetland Studies and Solutions Inc. The price tag for the anticipated five-year restoration period is $65-$70 million. The project will restore stream beds, preventing stream bank erosion and minimizing deposits in the lakes.
That effort was kicked off last week, and Foremsky said she's already been getting calls from residents who are alarmed at the messy initial stages, which include removing trees.
“They have been cutting down trees, which has been very alarming to some residents,” she said. “I just got off a half-hour call from a resident.”
A meeting tonight at 7 p.m. at the Reston Community Center at Hunters Woods will present the project to residents and offer a question-and-answer period.
Also coming with the seasonal change are camps, outdoor programs and facility passes. Registration for those is available online, with many camps beginning to fill up, said RA staff member Melissa White.
Members who pay their assessment online will receive a 20-percent discount on pool/tennis passes until April 30. Assessments are due March 7.
For those interested in being one of the hundreds of seasonal employees the RA hires, the association will hold a job fair March 29 from 1 to 4 p.m. Positions available in aquatics, camps, maintenance and tennis – many for teenagers as young as 15 – will be included.