Posts in Creek Watch
Announcements: Poolesville Day & Annual Membership Meeting

Poolesville Day is just around the corner, September 21, from 10:00 - 4:00. Poolesville Day is a one-day, family-friendly FREE event in the agricultural reserve. Friends of Ten Mile Creek and Little Seneca Reservoir will have a booth with members available to describe who we are and what we do and brochures with more details. 

If you have never attended Poolesville Day, there is an excellent description, with photos and map, online. 

For more details, visit the official website, https://www.poolesvilleday.com/

Save the date:
The Friends of Ten Mile Creek and Little Seneca Reservoir will hold their Annual Meeting on October 19 at 1 pm @ the Cinque Farm. It will be a PotLuck. All are welcome! More to come.

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Creek Watch

As earth moving begins on Pulte's Creekside at Cabin Branch development the stream is likely to become cloudy after rainstorms and sediment will be most visible to the public at the stream ford. FoTMC members have also noticed more instances of illegal dumping at the ford and along West Old Baltimore Road. Read more for links to report any violations you might witness.

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Rare and Beautiful Drinking Water Creeks in the Upcounty Are Worth Fighting to Protect

Both Ten Mile Creek and Little Seneca Reservoir are located within Seneca Creek watershed, Montgomery County’s largest watershed and a designated drinking water supply. The major threat to these waterbodies is urbanization (a.k.a. sprawl) from proposed development projects. During urbanization, developers take down forests and farms, then they grade, compact and pave-over the land; the resulting runoff over time erodes streams, and silts-in lakes and the Chesapeake Bay with sediment.

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Ongoing Vigilance to Protect Headwaters of Ten Mile Creek

When a conceptual development plan was submitted to the County Planning Board in June 2021 it did not abide with the recommendations of the 2014 Plan.When the Planning Board did not heed our advice, FoTMC wrote to the County Executive expressing the same concerns. As a result, Executive Elrich directed the Department of Transportation to adhere to the 2014 road plan. We thank the Executive Elrich for acting in a timely manner.

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The Pulte development saga: Judges ruled in favor of Planning Board and the developers, to the detriment of Ten Mile Creek.

FoTMC testified on behalf of the Ten Mile Creek watershed at Montgomery County Planning Board hearings in December 2020 and again in September 2021. Nevertheless, the Montgomery County Planning Board approved the Pulte plan, in violation of the language, intent, and spirit of the Ten Mile Creek Area Limited Amendment adopted in 2014.

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Wildflower Walk, Sunday, April 16th at noon

The Friends of Ten Mile Creek will be leading a wildflower walk on Sunday, April 16th at noon. We hope to see such early spring wildflowers as Trout Lilies, Bloodroot, Hepatica, Dwarf Ginseng, Wood Anemone, Rue Anemone, Toothworts, Spring Beauty, Early Saxifrage, and Violets! Another highlight of our walk includes uncommon County trees – the Eastern Hemlock and Shagbark Hickory. In the event of heavy rain, our rain date is Sunday, April 23rd.

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Action Alert: County Council to hold hearing on Planning Board recommendation to allow increased impervious surfaces, weakening Clean Water protections

Update 1/26/2023: On January 24, 2023, the County Council voted unanimously to withdraw ZTA 22-12.

On January 17, 2023, the Montgomery County Council will hold a hearing on a Zoning Text Amendment,  ZTA 22-12, that would exempt the impervious surfaces of master-planned bikeways from being counted toward the impervious limits that protect the Ten Mile Creek watershed. Please email members of the Montgomery County Council and ask them to reject this ZTA, which vio/

lates the Ten Mile Creek Limited Master Plan Amendment and its main enforcement regulation – the limits to imperviousness established in the Clarksburg Environmental Overlay Zones.

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2022 Year-End Recap

It has been another busy year. As we await a day in court which will determine whether the Pulte Plan for development in the Ten Mile Creek watershed will need to adhere to the 2014 Ten Mile Creek Amended Master Plan, we take this opportunity to provide you with a recap of what has been made possible with a little help from many of you, the Creek’s Friends.

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Take action to strengthen the MoCo Forest Conservation Law

While forests in the Ten Mile Creek watershed are designated for protection under the 2014 Ten Mile Creek Amended Master Plan, neighboring watersheds, which also drain to the Little Seneca Reservoir, are hotspots of deforestation in the County and are a source of high sediment pollution to the Little Seneca Reservoir. As a partner in the Montgomery County Forest Coalition, Friends of Ten Mile Creek is also working to strengthen the County Forest Conservation Law. This post has links to an Action Alert you can use to show your support and send a letter to the Montgomery County Council asking them to introduce and support a bill consistent with the Coalition’s principles.

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Action Alert for Friends of Ten Mile Creek

The Planning Board hearing for the proposed Pulte Development is now scheduled for December 3, 2020. This hearing will determine the development plans that Pulte has put forward. Your letters and support for the preservation of the Ten Mile Creek Watershed are truly needed if we have any chance of reducing this poorly conceived development.

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