Letter to National Park Service to Save Rock Creek Park

RE: The Rock Creek Park Golf Course “Rehabilitation” project

Dear National Park Service, 

The Washington, DC chapter of Extinction Rebellion (XRDC) is writing today to express our vehement opposition to the Rock Creek Park Golf Course “rehabilitation” plan because it will have devastating impacts on the ecosystem and the surrounding community. Instead, we demand that the NPS: 

  1. Publicly reject the current Rock Creek Park Golf Course rehabilitation plan as it severely damages wildlife habitat, cuts more than 1,200 trees, worsens the city’s air quality, exacerbates the urban heat island effect, and contributes to the climate crisis, undermining the wellbeing of DC residents, especially marginalized communities. 

  2. Conduct a Citizen’s Assembly that prioritizes marginalized communities and the communities neighboring the Rock Creek Golf Course and helps create a new plan that protects the Rock Creek ecosystem as a whole and contributes to climate mitigation for the city.

Public engagement on the plan was insufficient

Two rounds of public comments is a cartoonishly insufficient level of discourse for such an extensive change to DC’s largest park, especially when (a) detailed information on the species, size, and age of the over 1,000 affected trees was not made available, and (b) most residents of the city, including Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, were not made aware of the comment period when it began. [i] The public must be given the opportunity to have a robust discussion about what use of the site is best for all the people of DC. 

Furthermore, the public comment periods showed overwhelming opposition to the plan, with over 90% of the 3,212 comments opposed. It was reckless to proceed with the project despite the obvious lack of support. We demand that the NPS respect the will of the people. 

Saplings cannot adequately replace old trees

Mature urban trees provide numerous and irreplaceable ecological, social, and even economic benefits, especially in this time of climate chaos. 

Ecologically, mature trees are vital for maintaining urban biodiversity, including both understory plants and a variety of animal life, such as multiple species of endangered bats (which control mosquito populations). Old trees also play a crucial role in controlling air pollution—not only carbon dioxide but also particulate matter. 

Socially, old trees in urban parks meaningfully enhance (human) quality of life. They directly cool the air and provide large shade areas, greatly reducing the urban heat island effect and nighttime temperatures. This is especially important as DC faces more frequent and more extreme heat waves due to the climate crisis. Additionally, the calming effect of forests has scientifically measurable health benefits. [ii]

The “rehabilitation” plan’s promise to replace some of the cut trees with native saplings, especially without a binding commitment, is completely inadequate. The canopy of an old tree is orders of magnitude larger than that of a sapling, which is crucial at a time when the DC government is actively trying to increase tree canopy coverage to at least 40%. [iii] Further canopy losses directly undermine this official government target, which unlike the plan for the golf course, was approved by a body that represents the people of DC. 

The leaf surface area of mature trees is also substantially greater than that of saplings, making mature trees far more effective at absorbing particulate pollution, meaning surrounding communities and those visiting the park can breathe cleaner air. [iv] Mature trees’ root systems are much more extensive, helping prevent soil erosion and absorb stormwater—another critical service mature trees provide in the face of more extreme and frequent storms due to climate change. [v]

Economically, cutting down trees and replacing them is also exorbitantly expensive. There is already a lack of funding to pay for this multimillion-dollar “rehabilitation” plan. NPS could save thousands by keeping the trees right where they are. 

In short, mature trees offer a range of benefits that saplings will not match for decades, if they even survive until maturity. There is no way to replicate the benefits of mature trees. Saplings should be an addition to mature tree stock, not a replacement for it. We demand the NPS protect this irreplaceable urban forest. 

Contributions to the climate and ecological crises

NPS’ current “rehabilitation” plan will worsen the climate and ecological crises we are already facing.

The climate crisis is here. Cutting down 1,200+ trees and destroying crucial wildlife habitat will make the days hotter, the droughts longer, the wildfires more extreme, and the air harder to breathe. Now is the time to protect trees, not destroy them.

As the District sees more and more extreme heat days each year, trees and places like Rock Creek Park are crucial for mitigating the heat. NPS’ plan to cut more than 1,200 trees will make Rock Creek Park and the surrounding areas even hotter. This will leave those who use the golf course and the park and who live in surrounding neighborhoods more susceptible to heat-related illness and death. By 2060, DC is expected to see 53 days of extreme heat (days over 90 degrees F), a 76% increase from today. [vi]

And it’s not just the high temperatures that are the issue. Extreme heat is linked to higher air pollution. Higher temperatures speed up the reactions that create ground-level ozone, a dangerous air pollutant responsible for over 1 million premature deaths each year. [vii]

This current plan is also destroying the ecosystem that sustains our lives in DC. The plan devastates critical habitat for dozens of species, from owls to frogs to coyotes. This includes already struggling species like the Purple Martins and endangered bat species. A disruption in the ecosystem as massive as NPS' current plan is a recipe for disaster for wildlife in Rock Creek Park. Even worse, three endangered amphipods live exclusively within Rock Creek Park, so this project could even cause their extinction. [viii, ix] Going through with this plan would accelerate biodiversity loss and the ecological crisis. 

Conclusion

Given the devastating impacts of NPS’ rehabilitation plan, we reiterate our demands that the NPS:

  1. Publicly reject the current Rock Creek Park Golf Course rehabilitation plan as it severely damages wildlife habitat, cuts more than 1,200 trees, worsens the city’s air quality, exacerbates the urban heat island effect, and contributes to the climate crisis, undermining the wellbeing of DC residents, especially marginalized communities. 

  2. Conduct a Citizen’s Assembly that prioritizes marginalized communities and the communities neighboring the Rock Creek Golf Course and helps create a new plan that protects the Rock Creek ecosystem as a whole and contributes to climate mitigation for the city.

We act in peace, with ferocious love of this city and its people in our hearts. We act on behalf of life.

With Love and Rage,

Extinction Rebellion DC

Extinction Rebellion (XR) is a decentralized, international and politically non-partisan movement using non-violent direct action and civil disobedience to persuade governments to act justly on the Climate and Ecological Emergency. Extinction Rebellion DC has been active since 2019, using art, striking visuals, and clear demands to disrupt the fossil fuel industry and political processes and move us toward a just, regenerative future.

Footnotes:

[i] https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/11/02/rock-creek-park-golf-course-dc-environment-trees/

[ii] https://theconversation.com/why-keeping-one-mature-street-tree-is-far-better-for-humans-and-nature-than-planting-lots-of-new-ones-154114

[iii] https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2024/06/06/rock-creek-park-golf-protest-environment/

[iv] David J. Nowak, Satoshi Hirabayashi, Allison Bodine, Eric Greenfield, Tree and forest effects on air quality and human health in the United States, Environmental Pollution, Volume 193, 2014, Pages 119-129, ISSN 0269-7491, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2014.05.028.

[v] https://www.rayzorsedgetreeservice.com/mature-trees-vs-young-trees/#:~:text=Mature%20trees%20increase%20your%20property,with%20at%20the%20same%20scale

[vi] https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/08/30/climate/how-much-hotter-is-your-hometown.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fclimate&action=click&contentCollection=climate&region=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront

[vii] https://www.ccacoalition.org/en/slcps/tropospheric-ozone

[viii] https://web.archive.org/web/20041123101048/http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0ASV/is_1_27/ai_83241279

[ix] https://dcist.com/story/23/10/24/dc-golf-course-project-cuts-trees-rock-creek-park/

Abby Shepard2024