“The Story of Water”

Friends of the Potomac
Great Falls Park Potomac River Project Forum
“The Story of Water”

November 16, 2004
Great Falls Park, VA

Final Report

Introduction

Great Falls Park, a site that is part of the George Washington Memorial Parkway, attracts more than 500,000 visitors every year. The large number of visitors and uncommon natural resources protected in the Park present a unique opportunity to educate and communicate the role and importance of water at the site. The area of the Park with the highest rates of visitation – the immediate landscape surrounding the Visitor Center – offers a unique background to create a “water” interpretation area that simultaneously informs the public and addresses ubiquitous water quality and management challenges at the site.

At present, however, several parts of the Visitor Center are showing signs of wear and tear that could detract from visitors’ ability to learn and understand the close relationship of water that the river represents to the Potomac watershed as a whole and the rich natural history of the area. In addition, the lawn and pedestrian paths surrounding the Center and the concrete plaza that holds the snack bar and other visitor amenities are suffering damage from poor stormwater drainage over the years.


Objectives

The forum had two objectives. The first was to create a process that would share ideas with the visiting and neighboring public about a potential “water” interpretation area at the Great Falls Visitor Center.

The second was to create a process that would lead to development of an interpretation center that also applies “low-impact” and “green” infrastructure stormwater practices – such as rain gardens, rain barrels, vegetation swales – by building on recommendations made by an earlier consultancy.

Herbert Dreiseitl was selected as speaker for the Workshop as a follow-up to ideas he had initially presented at a program at the German Embassy in 2001 and Katrin Sholz-Barth, for her expertise in green infrastructure.




Speakers

Herbert Dreiseitl, Atelier Dreiseitl, Ueberlingen, Germany.

Herbert Dreiseitl trained as an artist through apprenticeships in England, Norway and Germany. As a young man he did his required civil service as an art therapist in the drug rehabilitation center “Sieben Zwerge”.

In 1980, inspired by a vision for water, architecture, environment and art, Herbert founded the Atelier. For over 20 years he has been the creative and moderating link between the Atelier’s staff, encouraging a synergistic interface of art, ecology, engineering and hydrology.

Herbert continues to delight in collaborating with a diverse array of partners from local craftsmen to renowned architects such as Fosters and Partners.

Katrin Scholz-Barth, Scholz-Barth Consulting, Washington, DC.

Katrin Scholz-Barth is a nationally recognized expert in Green Roof technology, which she has helped to establish in the United States. Her work demonstrates that Green Roofs are an integral and functional building element that protects watersheds while increasing biodiversity and quality of life in urban areas. She teaches “Sustainable Landscape Design for Watershed Protection” at the University of Pennsylvania.

Prior to starting her own business, she was Director of Sustainable Design for the HOK Planning Group, a business unit of Hellmuth, Obata, and Kassabaum (HOK), the world’s largest architecture firm. Ms. Scholz- Barth practiced civil and environmental engineering in Minneapolis, Minnesota, for seven year, where she gained design expertise in constructed wetlands and in bio-remediation.

Location

The Auditorium at the Great Falls Visitor’s Center, Great Falls Park, 9200 Old Dominion Drive, McLean, VA 22102

Participants (see the attached list)

Over 60 officials from the National Park Service, Environmental Protection Agency, Chesapeake Bay Program, urban planners, conservationists and students attended.
Supervisory Park Ranger, Jesse Reynolds, Brent O’Neill, and Great Falls Park staff assisted in the Workshop’s organization and set-up. Terry Carlstrom, NPS Regional Director, and Glenn Eugster, Assistant Director of NPS’s Partnership Programs also participated in activities. Bill Byrnes, a local resident and photographer, documented the event.


Agenda

As background, participants had been provided with “Great Falls Park Potomac River Project – A Multi-Year Initiative” that included the Park’s proposal for planning and action of seven project areas in the Park.

The forum started with a self-guided tour to Overlook #2 at the Falls. The tour gave the participants an opportunity to look at the Potomac River Project site with all its details and challenges.

After the opening remarks from Merrily Pierce, Board Chairman of Friends of the Potomac, who introduced Audrey Calhoun, Superintendent of the George Washington Memorial Parkway of which Great Falls Park is a part, Herbert Dreiseitl invited all participants to the western Visitor Center ramp for the Workshop I – “Your Hands on/ in the Water”. The purpose of this workshop was to create a model of the ideal river bed, using clay. The audience was divided into two teams. On tables joined together to lengths of 40 feet each angled downward by the slope of the ramp, and protected in plastic sheeting, each team of 30 created its own version of a river bed. Though the clay “rivers” were the same length, each had been modeled with different obstacles to obstruct water flow and included “boulders,” sharp bends, and island variations. When a hose connected at the “headwaters” of each river was turned on and the water followed the course of the clay “river,” the audience could see first hand the impact on the river bed and its banks, creating a direct connection to the Potomac with its roaring Falls nearby.

Herbert Dreiseitl thinks that by having the “Your Hands on/ in the Water” workshop first, and then talking about what happened, is the best way to learn about how rivers behave. Then, participants are in a more creative mindset to find solutions to problems. It was noted that in the future, the river-building exercise might be especially effective for many school groups that visit the park every year.

After a short lunch break, the workshop continued in the Visitor Center auditorium with both speakers’ slide presentations. Herbert Dreiseitl, in “The Story of Water,” stressed his philosophy. He showed the audience water as a selfless, extremely transformable, and full of surprises substance. According to him, environmental impacts such as flooding, depletion of ground water and base flows of river and streams, climatic changes and pollution reflect our behavior. Generally infrastructure design pays little respect to the intrinsic aesthetics of water, which we therefore often see with disinterest. Mr.Dreiseitl emphasized that people must be given the opportunity to experience water again. Water deserves everyone’s awareness; it requires an interdisciplinary design approach, at every scale, for the solution of environmental and architectural tasks today and in the future.

Ms. Sholz-Barth’ Presentation on Applying Low-Impact Development at Great Falls showed real short and long-term solutions that the Great Falls Park staff could implement for its roof drainage, water run-off management, and stormwater management along the pathways..

This presentation was used as the introduction for the Workshop II – “Your Creativity is Required”. The audience was divided into small groups of 6-8 people. With an diagram of the Visitor Center, drawing paper, and markers, each group was tasked with designing its own vision of the Great Falls Park Visitors Center, based on its strengths and weaknesses. All the results were then collected and presented and discussed by the speakers. A summary of those suggestions that could highlight strengths and help provide solutions for some of the weaknesses follows:

Combined thoughts/ suggestions/ goals from the Great Falls Park Potomac River Project workshop

Short Term Goals:

Integrate new thoughts generated during workshop into new plan for north Visitor Center ramp design.
· Pursue possibility of working with Herbert Dreiseitl and Katrin Scholz-Barth.
· Recommend professional green design assistance with plan for north ramp.
· Include south ramp into redesign plan so as to make the Visitor Center symmetrical.

Recommend using Visitor Center roof drainage systems to support the installation of a water feature and possibly gray water use for toilets.

Recommend utilizing green systems/structures to manage water run off for picnic area.
Specific site recommendations for Visitor Center and surrounding areas.

Zone 1

Create an integrated plan for the Visitor Center area (ramps, courtyard, adjacent paths).
Designs should be functional, appealing, and incorporate green systems/structures.
All surfaces should be permeable and/or appropriately manage water runoff while meeting ADA requirements.
Possibly include a water feature that creates both passive and active formal interpretive/educational opportunities for visitors.
All improvements will take into consideration and improve visitor traffic flow through area.
Recommend language included in Great Falls Park General Management Plan to encourage the use of green systems/structures.




Zone 2

Develop a green area to the west and southwest of Visitor Center, located between building and the main park road and including edge of picnic area.
Focus of area will be to showcase and educate visitors about green systems/structures.
Include green systems/structures.
Intent of aesthetically enhancing area around Visitor Center.

Zone 3

Utilize area between Visitor Center and Overlook #2 to create interpretive opportunities including use of exhibits, waysides, etc.
Include an interactive multi-sensory water feature either in Zone 3 or Zone 1 or both that portrays part of the Potomac. (Great Falls and Mother Gorge, Potomac Gorge, Potomac Watershed, Patowmack Canal, etc.)
Water feature will highlight interpretive concepts including; respect for water, river safety, understanding and importance of watersheds.

Zone 4

Improve parking areas by including green systems/structures that better manage water/sediment/pollution runoff.
Parking lot could showcase green practices.
Could use runoff to support water feature at VC.
Could use runoff for gray water toilet systems.

Conclusion:
In conclusion, participants and Great Falls Park Staff were enthusiastic about the activities of the afternoon. A number of participants asked to be included in future deliberations about the Visitor Center. Follow-up from the workshop will include a meeting with interested parties and Great Falls and National Park Staff on December 15 to discuss next steps. It is hoped that the Great Falls Park Master Plan process now underway will incorporate some of the possible solutions discussed. A CD of images of the Workshop are included with the report.