2021 was a great year for our beloved CAHH parks! Not only did the long-overdue restoration of the Goodman and Brickelmaier streambeds begin, but we also took up the fight against invasive species with renewed fury. Thanks to our hard-working wardens and volunteers, a fun new bocce court was installed in Voigt Park, piles of junk were pulled from Paul Spring Creek, bamboo was mercilessly dug from McCalley, the entrances to Hollin Hills were beautified, and Voigt returned to glory for the 4th of July picnic!

Die, Invasive Species, Die!

Our war on non-native plants in the parks continued in 2021 with many clean-up parties. Volunteers spent many hours before the September House + Garden Tour removing invasive vines and shrubs from the Hollin Hills’ frontage along Fort Hunt Road – revealing that yes, there really were trees under all that drapery! The clean-up continued along Rippon Road, where bags of porcelain berry were removed.

We also hired contractors in 2021 to combat the proliferation of Japanese knotweed in the Wildlife Sanctuary, and the layers upon layers of invasive plants in Sutton Potter Park. Slowly, Sutton Potter’s upper hillside is being freed from strangulation by vines and bush honeysuckle.

Thanks to the efforts of many volunteers, McCalley Park’s unwelcome stand of invasive bamboo is also much diminished, opening the park for even bigger pony loops at the next July 4th picnic! McCalley also received several new native plantings, each ensconced in its very own deer protection art installation. Visit McCalley Park and say hello to the new paw paw trees and laurels!

Another invasive element in our parks is garbage – plastic water bottles, bags, beer cans, and the occasional old tire. Living downstream of Richmond Highway, with its acres of parking lots and antiquated storm drains, means trash will continue to arrive until modern stormwater trash collecting infrastructure is installed there. This deluge of trash provides many opportunities for community service, and the CAHH Parks Committee hosted several trash pickups this year, particularly along Paul Spring Creek.

Stream Restoration Fully Underway

Restoration work on our two upper stream valley parks, Brickelmaier and Goodman, began in 2021, and the deep gulches there are being reconnected to the surrounding topography. Many dead trees and invasive plants have been removed, and when construction ends this spring, both parks will be re-planted with thousands of new native plants – trees, shrubs, ferns, grasses and more!

Bocce, Picnics and Fun in Voigt Park

The traditional Hollin Hills July 4th picnic returned to Voigt in 2021! The park was cleaned up, and the parking pad along Rippon Road politely stayed in place for this much-loved community event. Voigt saw other improvements as well, including the repair of the playground structure and the installation of a new bocce court at the southern end of the park, along Rippon Road.

Entrances to Hollin Hills Are Spruced Up

Our community received an Audubon Society Northern Virginia and Plant NOVA Natives grant in 2021 to replant our Paul Spring Road entry with native plants. Energetic volunteers removed the old plantings and installed the new ones, and the entry sign is now lit at night – a much-appreciated beacon on Fort Hunt Road! The Davenport Street entrance sign also got a face-lift with repairs and new paint, and VDOT (at Parks Committee urging) cut back the nearby bamboo to enhance visibility at Sherwood Hall Lane.

What’s in store for 2022?

The most exciting event in 2022 will be the reopening of Brickelmaier and Goodman Parks! Fairfax County anticipates that construction will finish this spring, with the planting of native species to begin soon after. (As with all construction projects, that schedule is subject to weather and other factors.) Please respect the orange fencing – staying out of Goodman and Brickelmaier until the work is done will allow the parks to return to use for all of us more quickly. Look forward to a celebratory reopening when we can return to these treasured landscapes!

Thanks to the ongoing support of the Civic Association membership, the Parks budget for 2022 is $35,000, of which $7,500 is for mowing; $12,000 for tree care and removal; $3,500 for drainage renovation in the Voigt ditch; $2,500 for trail maintenance; $500 for debris removal; $8,500 for invasive plant removal; and $500 for educational materials.

We are still looking for an appropriate solution for the parking pad at Voigt Park. The mats installed several years ago have held through a number of storms, but we are concerned that they will not withstand heavy trucks.

Our work on invasive plant (and garbage) eradication will continue within our parks, through volunteer and contractor efforts. Look for a series of essays in the CAHH Bulletin this spring on the challenge of invasive non-native plants in our landscape, suggestions for native replacement plants, and reasons why these concerns should be on your radar.

Good news: Jim McGlone from the Virginia Department of Forestry has agreed to work with us on the update of our five-year management plan for our parks. Jim prepared the first for us in 2016; please let me know if you would like to work with us on our next five-year plan. Copies of our current five-year plan are available; please email me.

And, of course, the CAHH Parks Committee will host multiple work parties this year. Come join the fun, have a donut, meet a neighbor, and pull some ivy! We appreciate the community’s support of our work, and the trust placed in us to steward our 30+ acres of community park lands. We welcome new and returning volunteers, and we’re looking forward to a very successful and exciting 2022 in our beloved Hollin Hills parks. Join us!

– Elisabeth Lardner, CAHH Parks Chair