One of the many advantages of living in this wonderful place called Reston is having the national treasure, Wolf Trap Farm Park, right around the corner. Wolf Trap was created by the Congress in 1966 as a national park following the donation of the 130-acre grounds by Catherine Filene Shouse to the United States. Imagine—something good done by the Congress when it still functioned! Wolf Trap was created as the first national park for the performing arts, and it has operated through a partnership of the National Park Service and the non-profit Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts. From the start, there has been a strong emphasis on its cultural side, the wonderful performance venue, and less on the natural resources side of the park. In fact, Wolf Trap is recognized as one of the very best performing arts centers in the country. Just take a look at the coming attractions for the 2015 season! The top musicians, singers, comedians come to Wolf Trap and you have to be fast on your well-heeled feet to get inside—or even on the grass.
In the last few years, the National Park Service has been paying more attention to the Park’s 130 natural acres bordering the Dulles Toll Road on one side and encircled by several well-to-do neighborhoods the rest of the way around. A new, local nonprofit start-up calling themselves Friends of Wolf Trap (FOWT) is partnering with the NPS to enhance the natural resources of the Park, to educate the public about them, and to make the natural areas more accessible and attractive.
A first step to help make the natural areas more accessible, was to expand and improve paths for the public to use for hiking the lovely property. To accomplish this, NPS partnered with the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club and local Boy Scouts to blaze new trails in the Park, to construct convenient trail markers and foot bridges. At the same time, NPS staff and volunteers have replanted several areas mostly covered in non-native and invasive plant species with all-native varieties. Already, PATC’s work has made it easier and more enjoyable to walk the Park, and the native plantings are attracting more birds and other wildlife.
Speaking of birds, the Audubon Society of Northern Virginia is also a collaborator with both NPS and the Friends of Wolf Trap. Audubon volunteers have engaged for nearly two years in conducting ongoing inventories of birds residing in or migrating through the Park. To date, these avid birders have spotted and officially recorded over 120 species of birds in the Park! Pileated Woodpeckers, Northern Flickers, Scarlet Tanagers, Barred Owls, Red-tailed Hawks, numerous warblers, and tiny Ruby-crowned Kinglets are just a few of the birds in the inventory to date. The next step will be to create a bird list scorecard for children and other Park visitors to use and record their own sightings when they come to Wolf Trap. Similarly, other knowledgeable volunteer citizen scientists are inventorying flora and fauna throughout the Park to be incorporated in future education programs for future visitors—including school children, scouting groups and others interested in learning more about this special place.
If you’re looking for a nice place for some interesting easy-to-moderate difficulty hiking, come to Wolf Trap. A great place to get close to nature as well as being one of the greatest entertainment venues anywhere! [Full disclosure—I previously served on the Board of Directors of the Audubon Society of No. VA, and currently serve on the FOWT Board.]