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Meadows in Rock Creek Park
Since 1977 Rock Creek Park has engaged in a program called "Meadows".
Its purpose: to increase nature's diversity within this National Park.
If you want to see birds, butterflies and insects, and flowering plants,
meadows are among the park's richest areas.
Rock Creek is 85 percent woodland, mostly mature trees that shed their
leaves in the fall. Playgrounds, parking lots, roads, and mowed lawns
occupy most of the remaining land. But here and there along the fringes,
meadows have created swaths of deep grass and wildflowers, not lawn,
not forest, but areas in between, left to grow on their own.
The meadows are small and scattered, representing about 23
acres out of some 3,000 under Rock Creek Park's jurisdiction. They have
added habitat for plants and animals in the park. With one exception,
meadows grow undisturbed. In the Washington area abundant rainfall encourages
trees. If left entirely alone, the meadows would revert to woods. So
once each spring, mowers cut down the dead stalks and woody sprouts.
Aside from that degree of management, the meadows are natural
areas, demonstrating a succession of growth in interesting ways. Naturalists
have identified more than 400 species of sun loving plants in the meadsdows.
Tall grasses have gained a foothold; birds, a place to nest and perch;
butterflies, additional support for their life cycle. Meadow flowers
and grasses attract pollinators; insects,in turn, feed the small mammals
scurrying through the weeds.
For the most casual observers, the changes go unnoticed. But to those
who watch carefully, the meadows are alive with activity. Here is a close-up
of six species found in meadows throughout the year in Rock Creek Park
as a naturalist sees it:
Meadows occupy a dozen areas in the Rock Creek watershed plus
seven locations under park supervision in the Civil
War Defenses of Washington Parks and at Battery
Kemble and the Glover-Archbold trestle. The Rock Creek Nature Center
offers checklist of park plants and birds
as well as a list of the meadow's butterflies.
Rock Creek Park
On September 25, 1890, the U.S. Congress directed that Rock
Creeks's wild valley be set aside to "provide for the preservation ...
of all timber, animals, or curiosities... and their retention in their
natural condition." Rock Creek Park's jurisdiction now encompasses 3,000
green acres, shelters historic landmarks, offers recreation and sports,
and helps people enjoy nature. Refresh yourself with the natural features
as you find them, but please leave all undisturbed for others to enjoy.
No collecting is allowed.
http://www.nps.gov/rocr/natural/meadow.htm
Last Update 7/25/01 DIW
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