Rock Creek Park is in danger
The National Park Service plans to spend $35 million to cut down over 1,000 trees in Rock Creek Park to expand the Rock Creek Park Golf Course. The so-called “rehabilitation” plan is an abomination that severely damages wildlife habitat, fails to address community concerns, and contributes to the climate crisis.
We need a new plan that protects the Rock Creek ecosystem as a whole, mitigates climate change, and integrates input from the community, especially those neighboring the golf course and those already most impacted by the climate crisis.
Until all the trees are cut, the National Park Service can still change course. We demand the National Park Service:
Publicly reject the current Rock Creek Golf Course Rehabilitation Plan as it severely damages wildlife habitat, cuts more than 1000 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.
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.
Photo by Ivan
Now is the time to protect trees, not destroy them
Trees sequester carbon. They take carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, helping reduce the overall concentration of greenhouse gasses that are warming our planet. Over 100 of the 1,000 trees NPS wants to cut down are very large Heritage Trees. This will release a significant amount of carbon into the atmosphere, directly contributing to climate chaos. It will make the days hotter, the droughts longer, the storms more frequent and severe, and the air harder to breathe.
NPS’ mitigation plan, to plant new trees in place of the ones they cut down, will take decades to replace the climate mitigation abilities of the trees they are cutting down now. Mature trees are more resilient than young trees and thus more likely to survive extreme weather events and a changing climate. As we experience more severe weather such as heat waves and storms, it is crucial to keep mature trees in their place so they can help us weather the storms.
Trees keep us cool. By 2060, DC is expected to see 53 days of extreme heat (days over 90 degrees F), a 76% increase from today. 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.
The National Park Service is destroying the ecosystem that helps sustain our lives in DC.
Cutting down 1,000 trees destroys 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. Going through with this plan would accelerate biodiversity loss and the ecological crisis.
The National Park Service is putting profit over people and the planet
Over 90% of public comments opposed NPS’ “rehabilitation” plan, yet they moved forward with it anyway. They prefer to tout greenwashed lies of “environmental sustainability” rather than actually address the community’s concerns.
The National Park Service must tell the truth about the dire consequences of the “rehabilitation” plan and act now to co-create an alternative plan with the community, prioritizing those most impacted by the climate crisis and communities neighboring the Rock Creek Golf Course.
We have a moral duty to act on behalf of life
When we harness our collective power, we can overcome short-term, profit-based interests and create the world we want and deserve to live in. A world where we and our loved ones can breathe clean air, drink clean water, and live in safe, healthy communities, thanks to thriving ecosystems like Rock Creek Park.