New Potomac River 'Living Shoreline' at Piscataway Park -- Robert Weiner and Noah Merksamer Point to Environmental Victory at Home Elbowed Out by Gulf Disaster

WASHINGTON, July 6 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- "The daily coverage by the media of the environmental disaster in the Gulf has elbowed out local coverage of an environmental victory right here at home," say Robert Weiner and Noah Merksamer in today's Washington Post.

In a piece at the top of the Editorial Page, "An Overlooked Success Story", Weiner and Merksamer point to the Potomac River's brand new "living shoreline" in Accokeek's Piscataway Park, across from Mount Vernon.

They say: "The Piscataway Park waterfront, had become a dilapidated rocky shoreline decimated by erosion.  Over the last four years, the shoreline has receded at a rate of ten feet per year."

"When coastal erosion caused a serious threat to the nationally protected archeological sites and the natural resources in the park last year, Tracy Bowen, the director of the Alice Ferguson Foundation, which conducts environmental protection and education efforts in the Potomac River watershed, spoke with Cong. Steny Hoyer, the House Majority Leader who represents Accokeek." Bowen told Weiner and Merksamer, "I believe in leveraging politics for the environment."

The letter continues, "Bowen and Hoyer worked with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Restoration Center and got $1.1 million in federal stimulus money from the American Recovery Act through the National Park Service." The restoration project was one of 50 selected from over 800 applicants received by NOAA.

"The Alice Ferguson Foundation then worked with the Chesapeake Bay Trust and Keith Campbell Foundation to design the new 'living shoreline.'"

"It features a self-sustaining ecosystem equipped with new natural wetlands, forests and beaches.  People can walk on the sand or jog along forest trails and a boardwalk. Wildlife abounds. If visitors choose to walk the 1 1/2 miles along the Potomac River to Motley Point, they can see across the beach and river to Fort Washington Marina, Wilson Bridge and Mount Vernon."

Weiner and Merksamer conclude, "If this is what it means for politicians to do something for their district, we want more of it."

Weiner, of Accokeek, was a senior White House public affairs official.  Merksamer is a student at Colgate University.

Link to article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/05/AR2010070502587.html

Contact: Bob Weiner or Gavriel Swerling 301-283-0821/202-306-1200

SOURCE Robert Weiner Associates

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