This chronology provides a more detailed history of events affecting Ten Mile Creek and the Little Seneca Reservoir beginning with water supply studies and the record drought of the 1960s. However, as told by FoTMC Board member Norman Mease, the ford at Old Baltimore Road was known at least as far back as agricultural settlement as a place where there was always water, even in times of serious drought. Friends of Ten Mile Creek, formed in 2014, are proud to carry on a long tradition of citizen efforts to protect this watershed, which is part of our critical natural infrastructure and a lifeline of the lifeline water infrastructure that serves the entire Washington Metropolitan Area.
Ten Mile Creek received its name from the many travelers that used the Old Baltimore Road in the very early days that the American colonies were being settled…
…The stream crossing approximately 10 miles east of the Mouth-of-Monocacy landing became a serious waypoint on the road and was then known, as it is today, as the Ten Mile Creek. This creek had, and still has, one very important characteristic for the early travelers: there is always water in the ford at the creek, even in times of very serious drought.
Please join Friends of Ten Mile Creek and 7 other environmental organizations at the 2022 Green Forum for Montgomery County Executive Candidates, which will be moderated by Kathleen Matthews. Wednesday April 6th at 7:00 PM at the Silver Spring Civic Center and on Zoom.
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.
With sadness, we share the news that our friend and founding board member Scott Fosler passed away, along with this a ppreciation of the critical role he played in the protection of Ten Mile Creek, and historically, in the creation of the Little Seneca Reservoir.
BOYDS, MARYLAND - Friends of Ten Mile Creek & Little Seneca Reservoir (FoTMC) has filed a petition seeking legal review of a recent Montgomery County Planning Board decision approving the site plan for a residential development in the Ten Mile Creek watershed in Clarksburg.
Conservation Montgomery will honor Claire Iseli at their annual meeting with the Joe Howard Environmental Award and will feature Montgomery Countryside Alliance Executive Director Caroline Taylor as the guest speaker. Claire Iseli is a special assistant and environmental adviser to County Executive Marc Elrich, who has supported his long time efforts to protect Ten Mile Creek. Below is more information from the Conservation Montgomery announcement. You can register to attend here.
Beginning in 2019, John Parrish began an inventory of the flora of public lands in the Ten Mile Creek watershed. Together, these properties encompass about 600 acres. This represents one-fifth of the watershed acreage north of West Old Baltimore Road.
So far, John’s surveys have documented over 450 native plant species.
Please save the date of October 24th and let us know if you would be willing and interested in attending our normally "annual" outdoor/in person potluck, and fundraiser, at the Cinque Farm - on this google form, no later than October 3rd, so we can plan accordingly. In light of the still circulating Covid-19 variants, and depending on your responses, it could instead be a webinar. But either way, you won't want to miss it!
We have just learned that the Planning Board without adequate notice has put our Petition on its Agenda for Thursday. We urgently need your emails to the Planning Board before this Thursday, January 28th.
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.
We advise that we act guided by careful planning that integrates the role advancing technology with the stewardship of our invaluable natural systems, our productive lands. We trust that the health, the resilience of our local food/fiber system will feature in this plan now being developed and nearing completion by a range of knowledgeable stakeholders and paid contractor.
SILVER SPRING, MARYLAND - Friends of Ten Mile Creek will testify before the Montgomery County Planning Board on Thursday June 13, in support of proposed updates to the Guidelines for Environmental Management of Development in Montgomery County.
On December 17, 2014, the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission (WSSC) held a public meeting announcing a set of potential options for providing sewer service to the limited amount of development allowed in the Ten Mile Creek watershed.
In November 2014, Pulte Homes, one of the primary developers in the Ten Mile Creek watershed, filed a lawsuit against Montgomery County and the Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission over the Ten Mile Creek Limited Master Plan Amendment alleging that the County Council and planners illegally limited construction on its property. Read more in this Washington Post article.
