Doranne Pittz, new park manager at Potomac Overlook Regional Park, has given the park a new look since she began in April. She stops her truck at the large open stage area which is one of the areas they worked to do first since it is a large gathering place. Photo by Shirley Ruhe.
Doranne Pittz walks out the door of the James I. Mayer Center for Environmental Education and points off into the distance. “See our new fence around the maintenance area. A box elder knocked over three parts of the old wooden fence so we built a brand new fence. It’s much safer around the tractor and other maintenance vehicles.”
"Let's climb into my truck. I'll drive you around the park and show you what we have done," she said. Pittz is the new park manager at Potomac Overlook Regional Park since April of this year. She steers the bumpy Ford Ranger down the main road toward the park entrance.
Pittz stops at the stage area. "This is one of the things we worked hard to do. We always have people in this big open field. Summer concerts and programs and summer camp are held here. It's the only big open area we have." People like to picnic and it is a gathering place so she says, "we cleaned it up and added benches inviting people to use the space."
A little further up the road she points to the barn area off to the right of the road. She has increased the signage to explain the history of the local Donaldson family farm that existed in the park area in the mid-1860s. The brick foundation footprint of two small barns is still visible just off the road.
Pittz explains Potomac Overlook Regional Park is 68 acres in the middle of Arlington. It is part of the NOVA park system covering six different jurisdictions including Fairfax City and Fairfax County, Arlington, Loudoun County, the City of Alexandria and Falls Church. "My main focus has been to get to know the community, what they want in a park. We get lots of feedback, both good and bad. But,” she said,” that's good because I would rather know what they want."
The focus since Pittz started has been "to clean up what we could — mow, weed whack and naturally manicure the park." She says this hadn't been done for a number of years and the park had started to be overgrown and unkempt. Logs were piling up, and it was too condensed and smothering the natural growth and regeneration. "I was interested in bringing life back to the park without losing the feel and the community love of the park." She points out that Potomac Park is the NOVA Park specializing in outdoor education.
Her next step is to come up with an invasive plant removal plan. "Pull out the English ivy. Leave in the dogwood trees." In the next step Pittz will be meeting with the local Northern Virginia naturalist. She drives to the park entrance and points over to the newly cleaned out area by the park entrance sign. She says that a local school brought students to help clean up the area and remove some invasive plants on their workday. In the spring they will plant some trees. "This spot is the first impression." Pittz says in the removal of invasive plants, "We don't use chemicals, no spray, just pulling and digging. Many hands make light work." In the spring an Eagle Scout project will tackle digging up the entry by the shelter near the parking lot. "Invasives can be gorgeous, but we'd like to get this park back to its native state."
Pittz stops the truck. "Let's walk back here a while." She pulls on her hat to protect against the 24-degree temperature in the park that morning. She heads down the Tree of Heaven Trail. "This used to be an area where leaf compost was dumped, but it was in plastic bags." It was unsightly and the bags piled up. Neighbors and hikers complained. Now the area has been covered over but green garbage bags can still be seen working their way out of the soil.
Potomac Park offers miles of trails with interpretive displays to learn about Northern Virginia’s flora and fauna. Down the road past the environmental center is an organic vegetable garden filled with tomatoes, peppers, beans and other vegetables in the summer and maintained by Virginia Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners. Summer camps are held for children as well as a number of special programs. “We just revamped the vernal pond." Pittz took this new position because she is interested in experiential outdoor education. Her goal is “to get people out into nature to experience it firsthand, not from their couch.”