Record of Determination- Partial Closure of Reservation 360 (Beneath Calvert Street Bridge)

United States Department of the Interior

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE
Rock Creek Park
3545 Williamsburg Lane, NW
Washington, D.C. 20008

Record of Determination

for a Partial and Temporary Closure

Of Reservation 360 for Rehabilitation

Rock Creek Park will close a portion of Reservation 360, beneath the Calvert Street Bridge, off Rock Creek Parkway inbound, on or about August 26, 2022, to address public safety concerns, and to remove the encampment and clean up the parcel. It will remain closed until December 31, 2022, unless the NPS determines rehabilitation measures are completed before that date.

The on-going encampment at this location is a health and safety issue for the residents of the encampment and has environmental impacts on the creek due to the amount of refuse and other materials massed along the embankment. Since November 2021, the park and various District of Columbia agencies have engaged individuals associated with the encampment, conducted a clean-up of this area, is again over-run with materials on the ground, in the trees, and in the shrubbery. There have been multiple reports to U.S. Park Police of fires, hazardous materials, dangerous behavior, and overall unsanitary conditions at this location. These unsafe and unsanitary conditions pose a danger. Additionally, trash and refuse from the encampment, which is partially situated on the slope toward the creek, is making its way into Rock Creek, causing ecological damage to the water resources.

While camping is prohibited on national parkland in DC, the NPS has adhered to CDC guidelines and allowed the encampments to remain during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, it is the NPS’ responsibility to consider the overall health and safety of all park users and neighbors and to remove these encampments when they pose a security, health, or safety risk. Any temporary structure used for camping will be subject to seizure and may be reclaimed by the property owner at U.S. Park Police Division 1 headquarters located at 1200 Ohio Drive, SW, if done within 60 days. Items determined to be trash or a bio-hazard, however, will be disposed of as refuse, so individuals are advised to promptly dispose of any such items.

This temporary and partial closure is not of a nature, magnitude and duration that will result in a “significant alteration in the public use pattern.” Other nearby park areas will remain open to the public. The closure will not adversely affect the parks’ natural, aesthetic, or cultural values; nor require significant modification to the resource management objectives; nor is it of a highly controversial nature. Accordingly, the NPS determines that publication as rulemaking in the Federal Register, is unwarranted per 36 C.F.R. § l.5(c). This is consistent with hundreds of earlier partial and temporary park closures, the legal opinion of the Office of the Solicitor, and judicial adjudications.

United States Department of the Interior NATIONAL PARK SERVICE Rock Creek Park 3545 Williamsburg Lane, NW Washington, D.C. 20008

Picciotto v. United States. No. 99-2113 (D.D.C.); Picciotto v. United States, No. 94-1935 (D.D.C.); Picciotto v. Lujan, No. 90-1261 (D.D.C.); Picciotto v. Hodel, No. 87-3290 (D.D.C.); Spiegel v. Babbitt, 855 F.Supp. 402 (D.D.C. 1994), affld in part w/o op. 56 F.3d 1531 (D.C. Cir. 1995).

Pursuant to 36 C.F.R.§ 1.7, notice of this temporary and partial closure will be made through fencing and posting of signs at conspicuous locations in the affected park areas. Finally, pursuant to 36 C.F.R. § 1.5(c), this determination is available to the public upon request.

Date: 8/16/2022

Julia Washburn

Superintendent, Rock Creek Park