October 2020

As a champion of our local environment, what does water - clean water - mean to you?

To me, a clean Potomac River does more than supply drinking water to you and 5 million people, support local businesses, nourish wildlife, and provide a free space for recreation.   

The Potomac River unites us. 

In this time of crisis, more people than ever are turning to our hometown river for solace, hope, and much-needed fun. The incalculable value of this resource for our collective well-being and public health demonstrates why we must continue to defend and protect it.  

We started the year with the hope that this would be the decade when we would reach our goal of a fully swimmable, fishable, and drinkable Potomac River. Then we were hit by a pandemic, economic recession, and stark reminders of racial injustices.   

Our staff and members understand that clean water is not an issue that can be put on the back burner until life returns to “normal.” Determined to push forward, we have adapted, using the power of our community (and technology) to become stronger and more inclusive.   

With your generous support this year, we: 

• Helped Frederick County, MD enact the strongest forest protection laws in Maryland through online grassroots organizing, 

• Partnered with upstream farmers and landowners to enlarge a strategic conservation hub, 

• Launched a Volunteer Leadership Team to hold more community cleanups, and, 

• Expanded our diversity, justice, equity, and inclusion work to strengthen our conservation initiatives and address the ties between racial justice and the environmental movement. 

We must not lose sight of the goal we held in January. The newly released 2020 Potomac River Report Card confirms that our local environment is at a tipping point.  

Your commitment at this critical moment will make all the difference in the fight ahead. Our local conservation initiatives prevent pollution and directly address threats from rapid deforestation, the climate crisis, and rollbacks of landmark federal clean water protections. 

By coming together and uniting around our love for the river, we will move forward.  Your unwavering support allows us to make sustainable progress towards the idyllic vision we share for our lands, waters, and communities. Thank you for helping us build this local movement to save the Potomac River and achieve positive change for all of us who depend on it.   

Sincerely,

Hedrick Belin
President

Trees are essential for the health of the Potomac River and our community.

Forests provide us with fishable streams, swimmable lakes, safe drinking water, healthy habitat, breathable air, and mental well-being.  

We’re amplifying the voices of community members to demand responsible laws that conserve healthy forests and restore tree buffers along streams – the only failing grade in our 2020 Potomac Report Card. 

Your voices are winning. 

This summer, in fast-growing Frederick County, Maryland, Richard and 300 other residents helped us advocate for the passage of an ambitious “not net loss of forest” ordinance and a groundbreaking Zoning bill that ensures environmental resources are protected in all future development projects! 

Now, Frederick County has the strongest tree protection policies in all of Maryland. 

These smart forest protections safeguard clean water for downstream communities and are a model for Fairfax, Montgomery, and other counties who want to preserve the economic, public health, and environmental benefits that forests provide.   

Bobwhite quails, smallmouth bass, and wood turtles don't care about the lines that divide our land. 

By reaching across those lines and working with the community, we're uniting our region’s healthiest resources into a center of protection for wildlife habitat and clean water. 

In the Shenandoah and South Branch valleys, where pristine fresh water still flows, we are helping small farms and rural landowners save streamside lands that are vulnerable to sprawling development.

As a part of this effort, we’re working with the community in Back Creek Watershed – where 98 percent of land remains undeveloped – to create a powerful “conservation hub” of continuous forest. We‘ve protected 800 acres in this region so far, including critical habitat for bobwhite quail and the endangered wood turtle. 

Potomac Conservancy members have helped us protect 15,217 acres of streams, forests, and open spaces through conservation easements.

These lands will forever provide clean water to downstream communities and will never be paved over or clear-cut. 

Melody Goodman, a realtor and mother of two young children, was struggling with stress during quarantine.

Her saving grace? Escaping to her local park with her family. But while biking the streamside trails of Sligo Creek, a tributary of the Anacostia River, they discovered something disheartening: pieces of Styrofoam mixed in with the sand, plastic bags entangled in flowers, and food wrappers littering the park. 

Melody and our Community Conservation team felt frustrated – but not for long. 

With large, in-person gatherings on hold, our 31,000 friends and members weathered the storm together through virtual events, educational emails, and a fun #PotomacRx social media challenge. As for the litter, we were determined to adapt and find innovative ways to keep volunteers safe and trash under control. 

This summer, we trained Melody and a group of passionate volunteers to host small, community-based cleanups throughout the region.

Our new Volunteer Leadership Team is already expanding our litter-collection efforts, raising public awareness, and safely bringing our community together to make a difference for the health of the Potomac River.