Renovations Coming to Brookside Gardens in Wheaton

Renovations are expected to last through January and will include stabilization of banks, dredging the ponds, and repairing dams to improve water quality.

Stream Restoration Begins on Northwest Branch Trail

The trail will remain open during construction with temporary detours, according to Montgomery Parks.

From time to time, the trails in the Wheaton area require their share of maintenance. This spring, Montgomery Parks has begun a stream restoration project on the Northwest Branch Trail at Kemp Mill Road and Glenallan Road. Workers will reconstruct the trail, stabilize the stream banks, control the stream grade and make minor bridge repairs, Montgomery Parks announced. During construction, the trail will remain open with temporary detours, but caution is advised. The project is scheduled to be completed by June 1.

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Montgomery Parks Seeks More Corporate Sponsors

Corporate naming and advertising at athletic fields, ice rinks, dog parks and special events are ways Montgomery Parks could bring in new revenue.

Attaching corporate names to facilities owned by Montgomery Parks is nothing new. Just visit the Discovery Center at SoccerPlex in Germantown, named for the Discovery Channel. But now Montgomery Parks, which is part of the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, is developing an official corporate sponsorship policy. The Montgomery County Planning Board gave its initial approval last month. The policy will bring in new revenue for facilities and programs, but it does not involve renaming entire parks or selling parks, according to a Feb. 11 statement from Montgomery Parks. The naming and sponsorship program could include regional and recreational athletic fields, ice rinks, dog parks and picnic pavilions. It could also …

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Park Near Georgia Avenue Closes for Renovation

The renovations will include basketball courts, playground equipment and rain gardens.

Evans Parkway Neighborhood Park in Wheaton closed last week for long-term renovation work. When construction ends in what Montgomery Parks anticipates will be spring 2014, the five-acre park just north of Dennis Avenue will have gained 2.46 acres, connecting the park to the east side of Georgia Avenue. The renovated park will also have the following features, according to a statement by the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission: Until construction ends, the park will be closed to the public for safety reasons. See the Montgomery Parks website for more information.

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Vision Takes Shape For Museum At Josiah Henson Park

A community meeting is set to detail plans to mark the former plantation home of Rev. Josiah Henson, whose story inspired "Uncle Tom's Cabin."

The Montgomery County Department of Parks will detail plans Feb. 4 to renovate North Bethesda's Josiah Henson Park, the former plantation where Josiah Henson lived and worked as a slave in the early to mid 1800s. Henson, who eventually escaped slavery, is credited as being the inspiration for Harriet Beecher Stowe’s landmark novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin. A facility plan is underway that would develop a museum at the site with interacive exhibits highlighting Henson's life. The proposed project would rehabilitate the existing historic Riley/Bolten House—which was recently added to the National Register of Historic Places—and an attached log kitchen. The Parks Deparment will host a community meeting where residents can view schematic designs for…

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Montgomery County Summer Camps Registration Opens

Learn more at upcoming summer expos in Kensington and Gaithersburg.

Summer’s coming. (Try to wrap your head around that idea while you wrap a scarf around your neck in this week’s freezing temperatures, but it’s true.) Now is the time to make sure your child’s summer is all it can be. Registration opened Tuesday for summer camps offered by the Montgomery County Department of Recreation. Montgomery Parks began accepting registration for its summer camps on Jan. 9. Together, the recreation and parks departments offer hundreds of affordably-priced camps focused on swimming, ice skating, tennis, theater, nature, robotics, golf and more, including overnight camps. Camps are offered across the county for children from tots to teens. A print version of the 2013 Summer Camp Guide is available at all county …

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Deer-Culling Effort Approaches in Chevy Chase

Certified park police sharpshooters will begin culling the deer herd in Chevy Chase's Rock Creek Stream Valley Park starting Feb. 11.

It's official: Some of Chevy Chase's deer population will be reduced. Starting Feb. 11, certified police sharpshooters from Montgomery Parks will cull the deer herd in Chevy Chase's Rock Creek Stream Valley Park (Unit 2)—the 277-acre part of the park between East-West Highway and the Capital Beltway. "Highly trained and certified Park Police Sharpshooters will lethally remove deer from the park, under very stringent guidelines and in the most humane way possible," according to a statement from the park and planning commission. Sharpshooting will take place when the park is closed to the public—from 5:30 p.m. until sunrise, through March 31, 2013, and will recur annually from Jan. 1 through the end of March as necessary, the statement added…

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Are Deer's Days Doomed in Chevy Chase?

Montgomery Parks proposes adding a park area in Chevy Chase to the county's deer management program.

It's not your imagination—the local deer population really is booming. The number of deer inhabiting a section of Rock Creek Park in Chevy Chase is more than three times what is recommended for the area, according to a news statement from the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission. A study by the park and planning commission "indicated that 40 to 50 deer inhabit the 275 acres of parkland located within the boundary of Interstate 495 and East-West Highway," in what is referred to by the commission as Rock Creek Stream Valley Park, Unit 2, Chevy Chase. To control the deer population, Montgomery Parks proposes adding Rock Creek Stream Valley Park, Unit 2, to the county's deer management program, and is accepting public comment…

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