2014_UMN MLA Capstone- Garnaas-Holmes: WASTED OPPORTUNITY, Washington DC by Matthew Tucker

Waste d:

OPPORTUNITY Reframing the Future of the Kenilworth Landfill

CONTENTS Acknowledgements Executive Summary Proposal Theoretical Approach Guiding Principles Regional Context Site Context Historical Context Strategies Remediate Empower Connect Confront Implementation Impact Works Cited Other References

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4 6 15 17 18 20 28 36 46 48 60 70 76 82 90 92 94

ÂŠErin Garnaas-Holmes June 2014 University of Minnesota College of Design Humphrey School of Public Affairs Landscape Architecture and Urban and Regional Planning Capstone Research and Proposal Project

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This project would not have been possible without the guidance, support, advice and input of several very fantastic people. I especially thank my capstone committee, chaired by Matthew Tucker, who continually pushed me to critically question my goals as an academic and future professional. Carissa Schively-Slotterback inspired my passion for public engagement and helped distill this project into a feasible narrative, Joseph Favour kept my attention grounded in detail and Pat Nunnally set a foundation for collaborative and context-based design and planning. I also thank Rebecca Krinke for co-teaching the final Capstone Studio with Joseph Favour and keeping us all on a steady track. I would like to thank Dennis Chestnut from Groundwork Anacostia River DC, Steve Saari from the District of Columbia Department of the Environment, former Riverkeeper Rev. Dottie Yunger, Scott Kratz of the 11th Street Bridge Project, and Mary Abe, Emily Conrad, Ariel Trahan and Margaret Noonan of the Anacostia Watershed Society. Each of these individuals gave their time to speak with me about the social, political, economic, environmental and cultural context of the Anacostia River watershed. Their input shaped the scope of this project and inspired my passion for environmental justice. Finally, I would not have survived the past six months without the love and support of my studio classmates, my family, my bird and Becky.

Executive

SUMMARY 20 21

9 6

Introduction Wasted Opportunity is an investigation of creative solutions and plausible scenarios that leverage ecological restoration efforts as tools to engage and empower residents to address ecological and socioeconomic crises in the Anacostia River Watershed. The project explores the potential implementation of different strategies at the Kenilworth Park Landfill in Washington, DC. This graduate Landscape Architecture and Urban and Regional Planning capstone speculates on a new paradigm for the role of environmental design within ecological restoration efforts. Recognizing a relationship between degraded urban ecology and socioeconomically depressed neighborhoods, this capstone proposes a spatial design and participation strategy that coordinates existing efforts to address both of these problems simultaneously. Informed by existing biophysical conditions, demographics, policy frameworks and community visions for the future, this casebased scenario suggests ways to create leverage for equitable and sustainable

design and planning that may inform future approaches to similar sites. The project begins by envisioning how bioremediation strategies like phytoremediation and constructed wetlands can be used to treat contaminated soil and landfill leachate flowing into the Anacostia River, a source of concern for water quality and human health and safety. The implementation of these restoration strategies then becomes a tool for engagement with nearby low-income communities. Providing opportunities for existing community groups, educational institutions and government agencies to collaborate on the restoration process encourages community ownership of the riverfront and increases awareness about both social and environmental issues. The project proposes opportunities for nearby students and residents to participate in the design and monitoring of different remediation approaches and to observe the removal or stabilization of contaminants in soil or groundwater over time.

Ecological restoration can also catalyze economic development. “Superfund” sites like the Kenilworth landfill can become testing grounds for the efficacy of bioremediation strategies that are increasingly considered in place of less sustainable or more expensive approaches. As these strategies grow in legitimacy, participants familiar with their deployment have the opportunity to become the next generation of experts on their use. In an area with high unemployment, this project envisions a physical and social landscape of innovation that could potentially create green jobs. Engagement with students and young adults could also increase understanding of and support for future bioremediation projects and water quality improvement projects in general. Public demand for the removal of toxic materials from the Anacostia River is increasing. This project demonstrates how sustainable bioremediation tactics can be implemented in a way that not only addresses that contamination but also empowers nearby residents to become invested in the future of their landscape.

8 17

Constructed Wetlands

Extended River Trail Boardwalk

Outdoor Classrooms

Kenilworth-Eastside Recreation Center

Kenilworth-Eastside Recreation Fields

Anacostia Riverfront Recreation Center

Landscape “Splice”

Phytoremediation Pits

Phytoremediation Test Plots

10 Bridge over Watts Branch Stream 18

11 Pedestrian Bridge over Anacostia River 19

12 Bridge to Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens 13 Neval Thomas Elementary School 14 Kenilworth Eastide Elementary School 15 Cesar Chavez Charter School 16 Mayfair Mansions 17 Watts Branch Stream 18 Re-developed PEPCO Station 19 Minnesota Avenue Metro Station 20 Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens 21 National Landscape Arboretum

Executive

SUMMARY

Research+Remediation

Remediate The Kenilworth Landfill was created before the age of environmental laws and before the use of controls and standards for similar facilities. Constructed on the historic path of the Anacostia River, the unlined landfill currently leaches contaminated groundwater into the river. One method to address leachate is through the use of constructed wetlands. A series of controlled wetland cells channels leaching

groundwater and shallow surface water through the roots of plant species like Philaris spp. and Typha spp. (Cattails). These plants absorb, break down or transform the contaminants through a process called phytoremediation. Phytoremediation is a thoroughly tested and proven technology, but is only emerging as an industrially viable approach to large scale remediation sites. Kenilworth Park provides a perfect opportunity for the implementation and testing of new phytoremediation strategies,

not only to treat the groundwater leachate but also to clean the bulk of the surface soils in the Park. The National Park Service (NPS) could use also use this strategy to create a new kind of National Park that begins to answer the question of how the NPS can fulfill its mission to â&#x20AC;&#x153;preserve unimpairedâ&#x20AC;? the parks of our nation when some, like Kenilworth Park, began as a polluted landscape.

Empower In addition to addressing the contamination in the park, phytoremediation can also be employed as a tool for community engagement. There are five schools within 5-10 minute walking distance of Kenilworth Park, and neighborhoods nearby experience high unemployment rates. The gallery of phytoremediation plots can become a platform to engage with local schools and job training programs, creating value (work

and education) for the community out of the problem of pollution. As the approach of phytoremediation is further researched and utilized in the remediation of other sites, Kenilworth Park can become a training ground for the next generation of experts.

restoration and remediation builds a public capacity that empowers residents and neighbors of the future to take ownership of the park of the future.

The phytoremediation process make take years or decades. While we do not currently know what the demands for park space or land use will be in 5, 10 or 20 years, engaging communities in the process of landscape

Executive

SUMMARY 40’

Connect The infrastructure that is required to create a gallery of test plots and series of constructed wetlands along the river also creates new critical connections between the park and the community, and between the community and the greater city. The existing trail network currently goes around Kenilworth Park, avoiding it entirely. However, as new areas grow and develop nearby, and as the site is remediated into a new park and

regional asset over time, new connections into and through Kenilworth Park will be in high demand. Street grid extensions and the construction of bridges and boardwalks provide a direct route for neighboring residents to access the newly designed riverfront amenities. These connections into the park culminate on the riverfront at a new center which houses a museum, research center, and community recreational facilities. The center is a 15-minute walk from nearby schools and neighborhoods,

80’

120’

providing a community center for visitors to eat, meet, rent a boat on the river, to fish on the boardwalk, and maybe, someday soon, swim in a healthy Anacostia River. Visitors to the District can also find their way to Kenilworth Park along the newly strengthened network of parks and trails and stop to witness the healing of this landscape.

Confront Part of healing means remembering: not forgetting past practices. As visitors come up the river boardwalk and upland from the river, they walk directly into the landfill. This “splice” helps the visitor feel the 70” high mountain of trash and waste that was built here, on the river. As they ascend the steps or elevator and view interpretive murals on the walls, they begin to reflect on whose trash this was, where their own trash may go, or

perhaps what it means to live in a culture that produces so much trash at all, and especially what it means to live in a society that dumps the collateral damage of its consumption, both literally and metaphorically, onto the shoulders of those who are excluded from its wealth.

Executive

SUMMARY Relationships

WARD 7 ADVISORY NEIGHBORHOOD COMMITTEES DC PUBLIC SCHOOLS

GOALS

STAKEHOLDERS

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

ANACOSTIA WATERSHED RESTORATION PARTNERSHIP

ANACOSTIA WATERSHED SOCIETY

GROUNDWORK ANACOSTIA RIVER

DISTRICT DEPARTMENT OF THE ENVIRONMENT

EARTH CONSERVATION CORPS

REMEDIATE

EMPOWER

contaminants in the soil and water to acceptable and healthy levels. Restore ecological habitat. Contribute to watershed-wide efforts to improve the health of the Anacostia River.

local residents and community groups to guide the future of the park, build ownership over the space and educate future experts in ecology and bioremediation. Provide equitable access to high quality recreational opportunities. Generate jobs and income for neighborhood.

DISTRICT OFFICE OF PLANNING

This proposal suggests sources of leverage that allow the implementation of the project to satisfy the missions, goals and priorities of many different government agencies, community groups and development initiatives. These sources of leverage are inspired by existing projects, funding sources and goals and visions expressed by community members. This strategy allows the project to engage a diverse set of

KENILWORTH-EASTSIDE PROMISE NEIGHBORHOOD

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

BREAD FOR THE CITY’S PRE-EMPLOYMENT PROGRAM

DC PARKS AND RECREATION

DC DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

CONFRONT

CONNECT

the controversial history of the landfill and what its presence says about our society. Commemorate those who have suffered because of it. Identify opportunities to effect change in future political processes.

nearby communities to the park both physically and socially through landscape and programming. Anticipate future developments and their impact on the park. Provide equitable access to high quality recreational opportunities.

Implement

ANACOSTIA WATERFRONT INITIATIVE

stakeholders and build a network of support for its implementation. For instance, the National Park Service’s mission contains the call to “preserve unimpaired the natural and cultural resources and values of the national park system for the enjoyment, education and inspiration of this and future generations.” Groundwork Anacostia River DC, a local organization, works to “utilize environmental restoration goals as a vehicle for community development.” The implementation of this proposal is guided by these goals, along

with those of many other agencies and organizations, identifying opportunities for collaboration and combination of funding and projects.

Impact This approach to Kenilworth Park provides an example for a new paradigm of ecological restoration. Just as everything is interdependent in an ecological system, the diverse interests and efforts surrounding environmental and social problems and solutions in the Anacostia River watershed are connected. Environmental restoration provides leverage for social justice and economic development. Transforming

Kenilworth Park from a contaminated landfill and hazardous liability into a healthy park not only remediates a polluted area in an underserved community, but it also empowers residents by connecting them to valuable resources and opportunities. Providing a research and testing ground, a prototype and a training facility for new approaches, the transformation of Kenilworth Park can begin to train the next generation of experts in the growing fields of bioremediation, sustainable

infrastructure, socially-engaged design and citymaking. Perhaps as other “superfund” sites and degraded urban waterways are increasingly addressed in Washington, DC, and across the country, the students who learned and played in Kenilworth Park will become leaders of a new generation of environmentally literate, economically innovative and socially conscious citizens and professionals.

Waste d:

OPPORTUNITY Reframing the Future of the Kenilworth Landfill

Theoretical

APPROACH

Cities across the globe are affected by “a series of urban and environmental processes that negatively affect some social groups while benefiting others”1. When our consumption patterns demand cheap energy, cheap manufacturing or cheap land to bury our trash, the low price of land near poor communities makes too much economic sense for cities and businesses to ignore. Low-income communities are thus disproportionately burdened by the negative health impacts of living near noxious facilities. Environmental justice, then, is often characterized by the protest against the proximity of hazardous land uses like landfills or power plants next to lowincome communities. This proposal explores a new paradigm of social and ecological justice in which the solution is not simply to increase the distance between noxious facilities and low-income residents, but to build a future in which neither noxious facilities nor lowincome communities exist at all.

A primary problem with our social and economic system is its failure to assign value to things that are not commodifiable (i.e. health of ecosystem functions or unemployed people). The opportunity, then, is to identify and measure the actual values present in the systems on site and leverage them to grow a healthier socioecological landscape. The picture on the left shows a Bandalong Litter Trap. Located along the Watts Branch Stream in Washington, DC, it is one of only two in the United States. Its primary function is to capture trash—plastic bottles, bags, basketballs—and prevent it from reaching the Anacostia River. The Trap is operated and maintained by workers trained and employed by Groundwork Anacostia River, a local community group. Communities as far away as Florida have begun commissioning these technicians to consult on the use of the Litter Traps in other watersheds. In a region characterized by some of the highest unemployment rates in the country2, this

green technology has formed valuable niche expertise and created jobs while improving the ecological health of the river at the same time. This approach is simple in concept (create jobs out of environmental cleanup) but powerful in its implications. If the handful of trash captured by the Bandalong Trap can create handful of jobs, then perhaps the billions of dollars attached to ecological restoration in and around the Anacostia River can in fact become an economic investment with a significant potential return.

Guiding

PRINCIPLES

resources are not; they become –E.W. Zimmerman

Re-envisioning Kenilworth Park provides the opportunity to both reveal, and expand on, assets that are not currently recognized for their economic, social, environmental, and aesthetic potential, and to develop a process through which the value of those assets can be cultivated and grown.

communities to take ownership of their own projects, independent from outside funding and expertise. In turn, this model makes community development more sustainable as residents create identity of community and place, and thus continue to support efforts over time.

The concept of Ecosystem Services is an example of this approach: assigning dollar values to ecological processes.3

This proposal addresses the ecological and social constraints of the site as one interdependent albeit complex issue; an opportunity for a community to identify its own wealth of social, economic and ecological assets and grow a new healthy, productive and equitable design and program.

The lens of Asset-Based Community Development operates by growing community skills, strengthening relationships and building social capital in order to accomplish shared goals. This allows

SOCIOECOLOGICAL JUSTICE Link Solutions //

GENERATIVE LANDSCAPE Create Value // Asset-Based Development

PARTICIPATION IN PLACEMAKING Process over Product //

Not compartmentalizing issues of environmental justice, economic development or ecological science, and instead analyzing each of the crises in Kenilworth Park through the same holistic lens reveals greater leverage points for change. Tracing problems like ecological destruction and structural racism to their roots while exploring their interconnectedness reveals new opportunities for solutions in a sort of spirit of socioecological entrepreneurism.

Asset-Based Development builds community capacity by expanding the skills and resources already present in a community’s constituents. This proposal similarly identifies assets, resources, connections and capacities already present in the both the physical landscape and community in order to create value out of what is already there, rather than requiring excessive external input. Part of this approach involves identifying people’s connections to each other, institutions, and ecology. Illuminating connections reveals potential leverage and builds general understanding and community capacity for change. It also presents an opportunity to highlight uncaptured social and ecological value.

A recent MIT study on placemaking identified that the most successful placemaking initiatives transcend the “place” to forefront the “making”4.

Layered crises catalyze stronger solutions

Make the invisible visible

Iterative and interactive

The fields of planning and, more recently, design have also identified the value of incorporating robust public participation in their projects. By improving community capacity for change, earning support for projects and building civic identity, social participation creates a more sustainably democratic environment for citybuilding.

Regional

CONTEXT

Anacostia River Watershed

66% of Bullhead Catfish

66% of bullhead catfish have visible havelesions cancerous tumors cancerous on their body

10x TEL

10 10x xThreshold ThresholdEffect EffectLevel Level

66% of Bullhead Catfish have cancerous tumors

The Anacostia River runs from Maryland into the District of Columbia before it joins the Potomac River on its way out to the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean. Surrounded by suburban, urban, industrial and agricultural development that deposit sediment runoff, chemical agents and trash into its water, the Anacostia river is considered to be one of the most polluted rivers in the nation, referred to as “America’s Forgotten River”5. It also passes through diverse communities, from the wealthy economic core of Maryland to the poorest neighborhoods of the District of Columbia. Although the river is only 8.4 miles in length,

its watershed covers nearly 180 square miles6. The National Resource Defense Council labeled the Anacostia river “a poster child for America’s tragically neglected, abused urban waterways”7. Historical records show that the Anacostia was once as much as 40 feet deep in the Bladensburg, MD, port, but urbanization, agriculture and sedimentation have filled the river to be as little as 3 feet deep in the same location8. Each year, tons of trash and debris enter the Anacostia, cumulating in the tidal reach of the river in the District of Columbia9.

The Anacostia is often characterized as literally full of trash, and the river itself has been assigned a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for physical trash. This level means that it is a “healthy” day if less than 57.7 lbs of trash are removed from the river. That adds up to 21,050 lbs per year10. While once a healthy habitat for hundreds of species of birds and fish, including bald eagles, ospreys, cormorants, herons, turtles, egrets, red fox, herrings, striped bass and bullhead catfish, the river’s forests, wetlands and grasslands have been replaced with urban impermeable surfaces and species levels have declined11.

Mean Mean Concentration: Concentration: 16,619 16,619 μk/kg μk/kg

PAHs PAHs PCB 70% of the Watershed 70% ofAnacostia watershed is isdeveloped developed

2 x TEL 579 579 μk/kg μk/kg

70% of watershed is developed

PCBs PCBs PAH

Some contaminants are present in levels up to 10 times beyond the Threshold Effect Level (TEL) of safety set by the EPA

17,000 people fish and eat from the Anacostia River each year

Anacostia River Watershed

Median Income

If we donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t see the garbage of our culture, both literally and metaphorically, then we are not confronting the reality of what garbage actually says about us. â&#x20AC;&#x201D;Mohsen Mostafavi

District of Columbia

Black Residents

The Anacostia watershed struggles in part to respond to these crises because the municipalities in the watershed have an extremely small tax base. The watershed is disproportionately low income and have higher poverty and unemployment rates compared to the greater Washington region. The neighborhoods in Southeast DC along the Anacostiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s shores are the poorest in the District and the region and are predominantly inhabited by African Americans12. The unemployment rate in Ward 8, one of the two

Greater Washington Metro Area

Poverty

wards east of the river, was higher than any other neighborhood in the United States in 201113. Ward 7, its neighbor, had the second highest unemployment in the District. In the meantime, the Anacostia watershed is 70% developed, causing rain water to run directly off of impervious surfaces like roads, roofs and parking lots straight into a sewer system that is hundreds of years old in some neighborhoods14. Agencies struggle to repair or replace this expensive infrastructure. Meanwhile, on the west side of the river, $10

Anacostia River

Unemployment billion are being invested into development of the Capitol Riverfront neighborhood, part of the Anacostia Riverfront Initiative to create a network of trails and development along the river. High rise condominiums, fine restaurants and a newly designed, awardwinning Yards Park line the waterfront in the new Capitol Riverfront neighborhood, near the Washington Nationals Stadium. Along with this investment, plans to complete a 60 mile trail system are moving forward.

Disconnected trail system

Combined sewer overflows

Sedimentation

Pollution

Vast, underutilized open space

CONTEXT

Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens

National Landscape Arboretum

KENILWORTH LANDFILL

co s

tia

PARKS AND OPEN SPACES

Kenilworth Park North

R iv er

Site

An a

Kenilworth

PLANNED FUTURE DEVELOPMENTS

Kenilworth Park South

Mayfair

SUPERFUND SITES

PEPCO Energy Plant Minnesota Ave Metro

r ive ia R

t cos

a An

mac

o Pot r

Rive

Deanwood

COMBINED SEWER OVERFLOWS

Just like many other cities across the U.S., the District is turning its attention towards the Anacostia riverfront. Developers, recreationists and environmentalists all agree that the river can become a valuable amenity. This momentum, however, clashes with the reality of health hazards and destroyed ecology that plague the Anacostia. Doug Siglin, executive director of the recently created Coalition for a Healthy Anacostia River, says that “the area around the Anacostia River in DC and Maryland

is on its way to becoming a huge cultural, social, and economic resource for the region. But it cannot reach its potential as long as dangerous chemicals in the riverbed and at certain places along the bank remain unaddressed.”15 The land around the Anacostia river is characterized by vast underutilized open spaces. This land provides an opportunity to either enhance recreation options, improve ecological habitat or build new development.

Kenilworth Park, the focus of this proposal, lies at the intersection of these opportunities. It is a vast, underused public space next to areas planned for development, and it is itself a polluted “Superfund” site. The park is just south of the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens, across the river from the National Landscape Arboretum, and five minutes from the Minnesota Avenue train station. It is part of the Mayfair, Kenilworth and Deanwood neighborhoods, but was not always the park that it is today.

Historical

CONTEXT

Timeline

1930

1942 The District of Columbia establishes a landfill on site, initially a temporary measure, and begins dumping and burning waste. Traffic peaks at 350 truckloads per day.

Formerly a mix of marshland and farmland, the site is purchased by the District of Columbia.

Site Area LANDFILL EXTENT

1930

1940

1950

1930

1940

1950

1960

Timeline

1966

1968

Nearby residents gather to protest the landfill and the nuisance it causes. The District assures them that it will soon be removed but continues to burn and dump trash.

The landfill reaches its historical full extent, built upon the former route of the Anacostia river.

LANDFILL EXTENT

RIVER FILLED IN

"I'd be sitting in high school class [at Spingarn High School, about two miles away], and these huge clouds of black smoke would pour right in the windows.”

RIVER FILLED IN

—Michael Shirley, 64

1950

1960

1970

1950

1960

1970

1980

Timeline

“It was like a sale at Wal-Mart or something. Every single day, in the summertime, the kids went there. At 6 a.m., we’d hit the dump. Then we’d fish. Then we’d play basketball. The dump was part of our itinerary, like a camp schedule.”

1968

1970

Kelvin Tyrone Mock, age 7, is burned to death in a trash fire while playing in the landfill with his friends.

Landfill operations ceased. Landfill is capped with polluted sediment dredged from the Anacostia and reclaimed for recreational purposes, granted to the National Park Service.

The District responds and ceases burning operations at Kenilworth, but continues to dump waste at site.

1973

RECREATION FIELDS

District Department of Parks and Recreation opens Kenilworth-Parkside Community Center and builds athletic fields.

LANDFILL CAP

1976 RCRA (Resource Conservation and Recovery Act), a law that would have made the landfill illegal, is passed by Congress.

1950

1960

1970

1980

Timeline

1998 NPS allows two contractors to begin dumping construction debris on the site again. This pile of debris is dubbed â&#x20AC;&#x153;Mystery Mountainâ&#x20AC;? by some neighbors.

1999 Neighbors draft Letter of Concern to Congresswoman. Bureau of Environmental Quality issues stop-work order to NPS for violations of permits.

NEW FILL

Site entered into Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act process.

1990

2000

2010

Timeline

COMPREHENSIVE ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSE, COMPENSATION AND LIABILITY ACT of 1980 National Contingency Plan (NCP) CERCLA Guidance

1998 Preliminary Assessment Site Inspection

2007 Remedial Investigation

2008 Supplemental Sampling

Conceptual Site Model (CSM)

Risk Assessment (RA)

2012

A1: No Action Cost: $84,000 Timeframe: None

A2: Minor Regrading, Institutional Controls Cost: $1 million Timeframe: < 1 year

Feasibility Study Report

INTERVENE HERE

ALTERNATIVES

2013 Alternative Selected

Community Outreach

Restoration Proposed Plan

Record of Decision

A3: 12” Soil Cap (3a) or 24” Low Permaeability Cap Cost: $11-18 million Timeframe: 1-3 years

Establish Remediation Objectives and Goals

Develop General Response Actions and Identify Areas of Media

Conduct Comparative Analysis of Remedial Alternatives

Identify and Screen Remedial Technologies & Process Options

Conduct Detailed Analysis of Remedial Alternatives

Evaluate and Select Representative Process Options

Develop and Screen Remedial Alternatives

A4: Remove all waste material Cost: > $400 million + Timeframe: 5-8 years

The Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA), commonly known as “superfund,” is a legal tool that the Environmental Protection Agency uses to ensure that polluted sites, especially those abandoned by their former owners, are cleaned up to standards required for human health and safety. The National Park Service is the government agency currently leading the CERCLA process in Kenilworth Park.

2013

Their responsibility includes research and analysis of existing pollution, contamination and health hazards and the proposal of different “Alternatives,” or options for how to clean the site up. The Park Service has completed investigation into contaminants in the surface and subsurface soils of the park and has proposed several alternatives, including the plan for a 24” low-permeability cap that has been selected as the “Preferred Alternative.”

The Park Service is currently performing analysis of the groundwater in and around the landfill, and is participating in ongoing community meetings to keep neighbors informed about their findings. As a restoration plan is finalized, the community has an opportunity to provide feedback and potentially alter the Park Service’s plan for remediation.

PROPOSAL

Any mere act of camouflage or restoration, or any other rudimentary cover-up or reclamation venture, is not making the most of the critical role of environmental designers. –Mira Engler

Why intervene at all?

Although the National Park Service has proposed a viable alternative for appropriately addressing contamination in the soils of Kenilworth Park, there are three primary reasons that the following proposal presents a far more valuable option for the future of the site. First, Mira Engler writes that “any mere act of camouflage or restoration, or any other rudimentary cover-up or reclamation venture, is not making the most of the critical role of environmental designers.” 16 Although the proposed Alternative (A3a, a low-permeability 24” cap) would prevent the movement of contaminants like lead and arsenic in the soil, it simply covers most of the

contamination without actually remediating or removing any it. This approach both literally and metaphorically covers up the mistakes of the past and hides them from the interpretation of a present day community. Instead, Kenilworth Park could become a place where landscape design plays a vital role in not only remediating the soil but also revealing and confronting a history of injustice. Engler continues, “Landscape design should not be used to wipe out technological guilt. Rather, it should be used to move the public to new levels of awareness, concern, and commitment.” Second, the following proposal would potentially be less expensive than the Park

Service proposal and actually proposes means of economic generation, job creation and education. If jobs and expertise can be generated by the Bandalong Litter Trap, handling comparably small amounts of trash in the Watts Branch Stream, how many jobs could an entire landfill, a mountain of trash, create? Third and finally, the selected NPS proposal for the site limits its potential not only by failing to “move the public to new levels of awareness, concern and commitment” but also by not addressking the primary potential threat to human and ecological health that the landfill currently poses— contaminated groundwater leachate.

REMEDIATE

Existing Landfill Leachate

Constructed wetlands treat contaminated groundwater leaching from the landfill.

Rainfall

Groundwater flow through landfill Research+Remediation

Groundwater table

Different strategies for phytoremediation (the use of plants to remove pollutants from the environment or to render them harmless) are deployed to treat contaminated soil.

Remediate Cleaner water means safer recreation opportunities.

The Kenilworth Landfill was created before the age of environmental laws, controls and standards for similar facilities. Built on the historical path of the Anacostia River, the unlined landfill currently leaches contaminated groundwater into the river. When it rains, rainwater seeps through the contents of the landfill (including household waste, appliances, construction debris

70â&#x20AC;&#x2122; of fill Leachate

and the ashes of the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s trash for three decades). This water eventually flows into the groundwater table and out into the Anacostia River. While there are peak amounts of contaminants including lead, arsenic, polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the surface and subsurface soils of the north and south sections of the park, as reported in by the Park Service,17 the groundwater

River

leachate is of greater concern for water quality and ecological health of the river. One way to address this leachate is through the use of constructed wetlands. This technology has been used to treat landfill leachate in places like Iowa, Delaware and abroad,18 and presents a sustainable approach to removing contamination from shallow surface and groundwater. A series of controlled wetland cells channels leaching groundwater and shallow surface water through the roots of plant species like

REMEDIATE

Groundwater Contamination

High concentration of PAHs

Historical path of Anacostia River (Likely groundwater flow path) Groundwater equipotential lines

Philaris spp. and Typha spp. (cattails). These plants absorb, break down or transform the contaminants through a process called phytoremediation. Phytoremediation is the use of plants to treat pollution through their natural ability to absorb nutrients through their roots and store it in their plant matter (phytoextraction), absorb nutrients and break down their chemical structure (phytodegredation) or to metabolize and transform toxic organic compounds into less

hazardous ones (phytotransformation). Phytoremediation is a thoroughly tested and proven technology, but is only emerging as an industrially viable approach to large scale remediation sites. Kenilworth Park provides a perfect opportunity for the implementation and testing of new phytoremediation strategies, not only to treat the groundwater leachate but also to clean the bulk of the surface soils in the Park. 19

Kenilworth Park could become a new kind of National Park that frames, celebrates and

150

Lead Concentration (mg/kg)

400

300

PAH Concentration (mg/kg)

Groundwater flow direction Former hazardous waste dump site for PEPCO Energy plant

800

PCB Concentration (mg/kg)

Watts Branch stream outlet (carrying sediments from runoff and physical trash)

studies the use of sustainable technologies to remediate and create new landscapes. The implementation, monitoring, maintenance and research of these strategies can not only remediate the site, however, but also create opportunities to empower nearby residents, connect people to vital resources, create both physical and cultural pathways from the park to the rest of the city and to confront and interpret the controversial history of the Kenilworth Landfill Park.

REMEDIATE

50x 1.1 mg/kg

Soil Contamination Levels

44x

610x 12.2 mg/kg

6.98 mg/kg

14x

21x

0.82 mg/kg

22x

9.32 mg/kg

4.53 mg/kg

0.04 mg/kg

0.43 mg/kg

PCB

Pesticide

Arsenic

Lead

Aroclor 1260

Dieldrin

0.16 mg/kg

0.32 mg/kg

PAH

PCB

Benzo(a)pyrene

Aroclor 1254

Surface Soil Contamination Surface Soils

1,350 mg/kg 400 mg/kg

0.02 mg/kg

28x

11.9 mg/kg

EPA acceptable limit

3,040 mg/kg

0.02 mg/kg

0.634 mg/kg 0.16 mg/kg

0.92 mg/kg 0.32 mg/kg

0.78 mg/kg 0.32 mg/kg

0.43 mg/kg

400 mg/kg

PAH

PCB

Arsenic

Lead

Benzo(a)pyrene

Aroclor 1254

Aroclor 1260

Aroclor 1242

EPA acceptable limit

Sub-Surface Soil Contamination Sub-surface Soils

REMEDIATE

Phytoremediation Process

HIGHEST CONTAMINANT PRESENT LEVEL REQUIRED LEVEL METHOD SAMPLE OF APPROPRIATE PLANTS Pesticides Dieldrin

Plants treat contaminants 0.82 mg/kg

0.04 mg/kg

Phytoextraction Feltleaf willow (Salix alaxensis)

Alfalfa (Medicago sativa)

Tall Fescue (Festuca arundinacea)

Chinese Brake Fern (Pteris vittata)

Sunflower (Helianthus annuus)

Arsenic 0.43 mg/kg

Phytoextraction Cottonwood (Populus deltoides)

Lead 1,350 mg/kg

400 mg/kg

Phytostabilization Blue Sheep Fescue (Festuca ovina)

Ragweed (Ambrosia spp.)

Indian Mustard (Brassica juncea)

Phytoextraction CONTAMINANTS

9.32 mg/kg

PAH

Polyromatic hydrocarbon Benzo(a)pyrene

12.2 mg/kg

0.02 mg/kg

Phytoextraction Western Wheatgrass (Andropogon smithii)

Phytodegredation

PCB

Polychlorinated biphenyl Aroclor 1254

6.98 mg/kg

0.16 mg/kg

Phytoextraction

Ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum)

Summer Squash (Cucurbita pepo)

PCB

Polychlorinated biphenyl Aroclor 1260

4.53 mg/kg

0.32 mg/kg

Phytoextraction

0.78 mg/kg

0.32 mg/kg

Phytoextraction

Contaminated plant material and sediment is disposed of

Alfalfa (Medicago sativa)

PCB

Polychlorinated biphenyl Aroclor 1242

Tall Fescue (Festuca arundinacea)

Reed Canary Grass (Phalaris arundinacea)

Wetlands accumulate sediment and treat contaminants

Phytostabilization

FLOATABLE BOARDWALK Extending the Anacostia River Trail

Monitoring and maintaining the wetland edge creates green jobs.

PERMEABLE REACTIVE BARRIERS

PERMEABLE REACTIVE BARRIER Removes contaminants from water

VEGETATED EDGE Phytoremediation

CONSTRUCTED WETLAND EDGE Cleanses leachate, river

Remediation technologies can be tested in new environments.

SURFACE WATER FLOW The tiered wetland system removes contaminants from the water. CONTAMINATED GROUNDWATER LEACHATE

TREATED GROUNDWATER

The infrastructure required to contain and control constructed wetlands serves multiple purposes. In addition to creating a barrier edge for the wetlands, the wall becomes the footing for a new river edge boardwalk that extends across the entire riverfront in Kenilworth Park. This boardwalk creates a seamless connection between the Anacostia River trail at Benning Road to the Kenilworth Aquatic Garden, completing a 60 mile loop of trails. While plans to extend the Anacostia River Trail are already in motion, they could

be combined with the efforts to remediate the landfill leachate and in doing so bring people closer to the riverâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s edge. The boardwalk edge also becomes a testing ground for another remediation technology, permeable reactive barriers (PRBs). These barriers act as groundwater filters; implementation at the wetland edge allows flow between the artificial and natural channels of water. The maintenance and regular replacement of the PRBs

creates new jobs and, like the test plots of phytoremediation upland, creates a kind of theater of the work of pollution cleanup. As visitors pass through the site along the river or on land, they witness a landscape of renewal and begin to learn about the history and future of the Kenilworth landfill.

TEST PLOT GALLERY

EMPOWER Management and monitoring of test plots generates employment and job training opportunities.

Phytoremediation as Engagement and Empowerment Tool

The National Park Service interprets the remediation process and site design to visitors.

Phytoremediation process exposed and incorporated into outdoor education programs. Interactive screens and technology reveals the science at work.

NEW ROAD AGGREGATE OLD CAP

CLEAN SOIL PHYTOREMEDIATED SOILS

LANDFILL

Empower The use of phytoremediation not only addresses contamination in the soils of the park, but it also creates a tool for community engagement. Kenilworth Park is adjacent to three neighborhoods (Mayfair, Kenilworth and Deanwood) that have disproportionately high unemployment rates and a large population of families with children.20 In Mayfair, 68% of households have children at home, and the median male

age is 14.21 The gallery of phytoremediation plots can become a platform to engage with local schools and job training programs, creating a value (work and education) for the community out of the problem of pollution. There are five schools within 5-10 minute walking distance of Kenilworth Park. Sections of the park nearest these schools (the northeast recreation fields and the southeast area behind Thomas Neval Elementary) should be excavated completely

and filled with healthy soils to create a safe area for new outdoor education areas and natural playgrounds. Students who have regular access to outdoor education perform 27% better on science exams, in addition to learning important teamwork and critical thinking skills.22 These parts of the Park could become innovative educational landscapes that currently do not exist anywhere east of the Anacostia River.

EMPOWER

Education, Employment and Demographics

NEARBY SCHOOLS

UNEMPLOYMENT IN THE ANACOSTIA WATERSHED 23

NEARBY NEIGHBORHOOD DEMOGRAPHICS 24

MAYFAIR

DEANWOOD

KENILWORTH % Poverty % Adults with < high school education

Kenilworth Elementary Unemployment

% Families with children

Neval Thomas Elementary Cesar Chavez Charter

% Black

Median age Benning Elementary SITE AREA

20%+

33 yrs

34 yrs

26yrs

28 yrs

14 yrs

EMPOWER

Education, Employment and Demographics

Outdoor Classrooms and Nature Playgrounds Once a landscape of tragedy for children, new treatment could transform Kenilworth Park into an educational amenity for the District’s young students. The District of Columbia Public School system’s Environmental Literacy Plan states that “In the District of Columbia, students deserve an education that addresses the relevant health, economic, and environmental

concerns of our local and global community. They also deserve an education that creates opportunities for innovation and success.”25 As communities around the world work to address problems of pollution and the unintentional consequences of infrastructure and industry of the 19th Century, students in DC can provide a precedent of how to transform the mistakes of the past into the opportunities of the future.

EMPOWER

Tim

Innovative bioremediation strategies are separated and compared

Students and job trainees collaborate with professionals to design and monitor remediation strategies Mature plants are removed along with contaminants they have extracted Community involvement in phytoremediation Park users may begin to explore new land uses after soil quality is restored

What if students were not only invited to play and learn in the newly extended backyards of their schools, but were also invited to directly participate in the remediation of the rest of the Park? The gallery of test plots provides an ideal platform for government agencies and scientists to engage with students, as well

as job training programs and community groups, in the process of phytoremediation. Classrooms and groups can collaborate with professionals to design the seed and plant mix or remediation strategy for each test plot. Neighbors can witness changes over the seasons as plots are planted and removed, and newly trained technicians can monitor the progress of cleanup while researchers compare the effectiveness of different strategies. Over time, as students grow older and more people play a role in

the clean up of the park, the community will begin to feel ownership over the space and the activities that take place there. The phytoremediation process make take years or decades. While we do not currently know what the demands for park space or land use will be in 5, 10 or 20 years, engaging communities in the process of landscape restoration and remediation builds a public capacity that empowers residents and neighbors of the future to take ownership of the park of the future.

If the children of today can feel pride about their work in the park of today, perhaps we can build the capacity for them to take ownership over the landscape of the future.

CONNECT

Building bridges

Anacostia River Trail Extension to Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens

To Kenilworth Park and Anacostia River

Road to Kenilworth Eastside Recreation Center Bridge to Mayfair Mansions

40’

80’

Restored Watts Branch Streambed

To Mayfair Community

120’

40’

Bridge over Anacostia River into National Arboretum

Anacostia River Boat Access Ramp Anacostia River Recreation Center: Boat Rental, Research Hub and Nature Center

Connect

Anacostia River Trail Extension

Existing trail networks in this region avoid Kenilworth Park. The Anacostia River Trail Extension that is currently underway proposes the construction of sidewalks that skirt the park, and miss the opportunity to create a north-south riverfront trail through the park. The Deanwood Strategic Plan and recent community conversations envision new development occurring nearby along Minnesota Avenue26 and south of the Park

in the space currently held by the PEPCO energy plant. As these new areas grow and develop, and as the site is remediated into a new park and regional asset over time, the growing communities of Mayfair, Kenilworth and Deanwood will demand new connections into and through Kenilworth Park. The street grid in Mayfair can be extended into the site, providing a straight route for neighbors to get to the newly redesigned riverfront. As the Watts Branch stream bed is restored, bridges over its gully provide the residents of the Mayfair Mansions, a low-income housing community, with the most direct access to

80’

120’

the Anacostia Riverfront in the area. Bridges across the river into the National Landscape Arboretum and north into the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens will connect Kenilworth Park to these national assets and help to create a robust network of parks and trails centered around the Anacostia River. Two new centers are proposed for the site. A rebuilt Kenilworth-Eastside Community Center satisfies local demand for recreation facilities, and an Anacostia Riverfront center brings visitors, researchers and jobs to the river’s edge.

CONNECT

Future Development and Missing Connections

FUTURE DEVELOPMENT CONTEXT

PROPOSED CIRCULATION

Connections to Kenilworth Aquatic Garden Existing pedestrian and bicycle trail network REC FIELDS

RIVER CENTER

Anacostia River Pedestrian Bridge to National Arboretum

Bridge over Watts Branch Stream

Anacostia River Trail Extension Focus “Hubs” of development, according to the Deanwood Neighborhood Strategic Plan

Proposed Circulation OUTDOOR CLASSROOMS

Anticipated future developments (building footprints imagined)

Pedestrian Bridge to Minnesota Ave Metro Station

Connections into future development at PEPCO site

CONNECT

Existing view

Kenilworth-Eastside Recreation Center The former Kenilworth-Eastside Recreation Center that previously served the Kenilworth neighborhood was demolished in 2010 with the intent to replace and upgrade the facilities. Construction has been put on hold due to impending government response with regards to site contamination, as well as subsequent permitting delays. A rebuilt recreation center is a much-needed amenity in the neighborhood, and renewed recreational fields surrounding it can become a powerful gateway to the entire park. Users that come for these recreational amenities may wander down new paths, exploring the park beyond the fields, finding their way down to the river, while passing fields of trees and grasses working to

cleanse the soil. After a 15 minute walk from the edge of the park, through the recreation fields and gallery of phytoremediation plots, visitors reach the Riverfront center. A terminus of all of the trails into and through the park, this center houses a museum, research facilities and recreation equipment rentals. While this Riverfront center provides an amenity to local communities, the strong network of parks and trails surrounding it will also attract regional and national visitors to the edge of the Anacostia. Neighbors and visitors alike will gather, eat, learn, play, boat, fish and some day swim in a healthy river. As visitors find their way up the river along the Anacostia River Trail, down from the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens via the

boardwalks, or across the river from the National arboretum, they can stop, see, listen, observe, and experience the healing of this landscape.

CONFRONT

Landfill Splice

Confront Healing does not mean forgetting. Mohsen Mostafavi writes, “If we don’t see the garbage of our culture, both literally and metaphorically, then we are not confronting the reality of what garbage actually says about us.”27 The healing of this landfill requires confrontation and acknowledgment. Confrontation not only of the injustice as government agencies historically disregarded the safety and rights of the

people who live nearby and the river to which they are connected, but also confrontation of each of our own lifestyles. As visitors come up the river boardwalk and upland from the river, they walk directly into the landfill. This “splice” helps the visitor perceive the mountain of trash and waste that was built here, on the river. As they ascend the steps or elevator and view interpretive murals on the walls, they begin to reflect on whose trash this was, where their own trash may go, or perhaps what it means to live in a culture that

produces so much trash at all, and especially what it means to live in a society that dumps the collateral damage of its consumption, both literally and metaphorically, onto the shoulders of those who are excluded from its wealth.

CONFRONT

Landfill Splice

In areas where soils are excavated and replaced, small areas of the original, contaminated ground plane of the landfill can be retained. These pods help visitors remember that they are walking on new soil and that layers of history lie beneath them. As Kenilworth Park evolves over time and grows into a park of the future, it can still commemorate and tell the story of the past.

CONFRONT

Historic Full Extent of Kenilworth Landfill (ca. 1968)

Historic Flow of Anacostia River (ca. early 1900s)

Landscape design should not be used to wipe out technological guilt. Rather, it should be used to move the public to new levels of awareness, concern, and commitment. - Mira Engler

Project

IMPLEMENTATION Susan Fainstein writes that “Environmental justice demands more than the occasional use of funds for developing greenery in poor neighborhoods. Rather it means the reallocation of spending by city governments so that the overall budget is not tilted to favor the wealthy.”28 This proposal imagines a future for Kenilworth Park that provides world-class recreation opportunities, training in emerging professions, and steps to restore a healthy river near low-income communities. Moreover, the implementation of this project could become an economic generator for both developers and disenfranchised residents east of the river. Until we readily reallocate city government spending budgets to favor all communities equitably, as Fainstein suggests, one strategy for gaining project allies is to implement the project proposal in ways that satisfy the missions, goals, and priorities of different government agencies, community groups, and development initiatives, thereby gaining a diverse source of funding and stakeholders. This concept is inspired and informed by existing projects, funding sources, and visions expressed by community members. For example, the National Park Service’s mission contains the call to “preserve unimpaired the natural and cultural resources and values of the national park system for the enjoyment, education and inspiration of this and future generations.”29

Groundwork Anacostia River DC, a local organization, works to “utilize environmental restoration goals as a vehicle for community development.”30 The implementation of this proposal is guided by these goals, along with those of the Anacostia Watershed Restoration Partnership (an inter-agency government coalition guiding restoration efforts along the river), the Anacostia Waterfront Initiative (a 30-year, $10 billion government-led development initiative), the Anacostia Watershed Society (the largest non-profit working on ecological restoration and recreation on the river), the District Department of the Environment (with its Plan for a Fishable and Swimmable Anacostia River by 2032) and the Environmental Protection Agency, tasked with the remediation of polluted “superfund” sites. As the Anacostia Waterfront Initiative and DC Department of Transportation begin their efforts to extend the Anacostia River Trail, the National Park Service will soon complete its analysis of groundwater leachate around Kenilworth Park that reveals a need for an immediate expensive and infrastructural response. The river boardwalk and wetland edge in this proposal can simultaneously support the goals and needs of both of these projects while leveraging the existing capability of multiple government agencies to afford its construction.

of the park, the District Department of the Environment can extend its restoration of the Watts Branch stream (currently completed up until the stream enters Kenilworth Park), working with NPS and EPA officials to combine the stream restoration with the wetland system, widening and slowing Watts Branch as it nears the river. During restoration construction, bridges can be built over the stream to connect residents of Mayfair into the park. A full-scale phytoremediation program begins, spurred by the EPA’s cleanup requirements, guided by the educational missions of the NPS and DC Public Schools, supported by environmental organizations and utilized as a vehicle for community development by groups like Groundwork Anacostia River DC. DC Parks and Recreation can rebuild the KenilworthEastside Recreation Center once excavation and replacement of soils in the northeast of the park is complete, and a coalition of all of these agencies and organizations, along with research institutions, can collaborate on the establishment of a central riverfront center. In years to come, as the PEPCO energy plant is rebuilt as government offices or housing units, and as Minnesota Avenue grows economically and in density, the park will be poised as a local treasure, a regional asset and a national icon.

As remediation begins around the edges

Phasing

REMEDIATION OF LANDFILL LEACHATE

Boardwalk edge treats leachate with constructed wetlands and permeable reactive barriers while extending and connecting the regional Anacostia River Trail.

EXCAVATION AND REPLACEMENT OF SOILS

The soil around the existing recreation fields is replaced, leaving educational “pits” where phytoremediation slowly heals the historic landfill cap.

OUTDOOR CLASSROOM PREPARATION

DC Public Schools works with the National Park Service and Environmental Protection Agency to use remediation plans as a way to establish a new design for outdoor classrooms and nature playgrounds.

FRAMEWORK FOR REMEDIATION ESTABLISHED

A grid framework is established across the site, creating “plots” where remediation strategies will be tested and compared to each other.

RESTORATION OF WATTS BRANCH STREAM

BRIDGES BUILT OVER GULLY

PARTICIPATION IN REMEDIATION

The Department of the Environment continues their restoration project on the Watts Branch Stream through the site, enhancing the vegetation along its edge and addressing erosion.

Bridges from the Mayfair community are built over the stream gully and into the site, creating new access and exit points.

School classes, community groups and job training programs partner with government agencies and contracted experts to employ remediation strategies in the test plots.

EXPANSION OF COMMUNITY AND RECREATION CENTERS

The KenilworthEastside Community Center and newly established riverfront recreation center become icons for the intersection of recreation, healthy living, education and green jobs.

BRIDGES BUILT OVER RIVER

A pedestrian bridge spans the Anacostia River, connecting the former landfill to the National Arboretum. Another boardwalk extension connects the Aquatic Garden to the growing park.

EXPANSION OF PARK ACCESS INTO NEW COMMUNITIES

As the PEPCO site develops and new housing units are built along Minnesota Avenue, planted corridors can connect these new developments to the improving park.

CITYWIDE CONNECTIONS

As the Metro System and Anacostia River Trail seamlessly connect the site into the rest of the city, the site becomes a destinations for locals and visitors alike.

REGIONAL RECOGNITION

As the ecological crises facing the Chesapeake Bay watershed grow in severity and as social inequality strains the greater Washington region, this site provides an example of how both issues can be addressed simultaneously.

Relationships

WARD 7 ADVISORY NEIGHBORHOOD COMMITTEES DC PUBLIC SCHOOLS

STAKEHOLDERS

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

ANACOSTIA WATERSHED RESTORATION PARTNERSHIP

GROUNDWORK ANACOSTIA RIVER

GOALS

DISTRICT DEPARTMENT OF THE ENVIRONMENT

ANACOSTIA WATERSHED SOCIETY

EARTH CONSERVATION CORPS

REMEDIATE

EMPOWER

contaminants in the soil and water to acceptable and healthy levels. Restore ecological habitat. Contribute to watershed-wide efforts to improve the health of the Anacostia River.

DISTRICT OFFICE OF PLANNING

NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

ANACOSTIA WATERFRONT INITIATIVE

KENILWORTH-EASTSIDE PROMISE NEIGHBORHOOD

BREAD FOR THE CITYâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S PRE-EMPLOYMENT PROGRAM

DC PARKS AND RECREATION

DC DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

CONFRONT

CONNECT

Phasing

REMEDIATE

EMPOWER

2015

2016

CONFRONT

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

CONNECT

2023

2024

2025

2026

2027

2028

2029

Redevelopment of Participation Plan Extended River Trail Constructed Wetlands Permeable Reactive Barriers Tested and Built Landscape “Spliced” Excavation of Soils Near Kenilworth Rebuilt Kenilworth-Eastside Recreation Center Pedestrian Bridge over Hwy 295 Built Interpretive Signage Installed Excavation Near Neval Thomas Elementary Outdoor Classrooms Built Phytoremediation Pits Phytoremediation Grid Framework Established River Recreation Center Established Mayfair Developments Bridge to Arboretum Built Bridge over Watts Branch Stream Community Engagement in Individual Plots Outdoor Education Courses Job Training Courses Fall “Harvest” Celebrations PEPCO Develops Comparison of Phytoremediation Strategies Solar Power Experiments Public Art Competitions and Installations Fish Farms in River Phytoremediation Grid Reevaluated: Potentially Replaced Urban Agriculture Plots NPS-led Tours of the Park River Swimmable and Fishable

Broader

IMPACT

KENILWORTH PARK 20

PEPCO PLANT

RFK STADIUM

9 6

8 17

Constructed Wetlands

Extended River Trail Boardwalk

Outdoor Classrooms

Kenilworth-Eastside Recreation Center

Kenilworth-Eastside Recreation Fields

Anacostia Riverfront Recreation Center

Landscape “Splice”

Phytoremediation Pits

Phytoremediation Test Plots

11 Pedestrian Bridge over Anacostia River 19

iver ac R

10 Bridge over Watts Branch Stream

STADIUM ARMORY

NAVY YARD

om Pot

SOUTHWEST WATERFRONT

This approach to Kenilworth Park provides an example for a new paradigm of ecological restoration. Just as everything is interdependent in an ecological system, the diverse interests and efforts surrounding environmental and social problems and innovative solutions in the Anacostia River watershed are connected. Environmental restoration provides leverage for social justice and economic development. As Kenilworth Park is transformed from a contaminated landfill and hazardous

R stia

r ive

a An

POPLAR POINT liability to an opportunity to empower nearby residents and connect them to valuable resources, it is also training the next generation of experts in the growing fields of bioremediation and 21st Century parkplanning and placemaking. As the District begins to respond to mounting pressure to address the rest of its polluted sites along the Anacostia river, Kenilworth Park will provide a research and testing ground, a prototype and a training facility for new approaches. As other “superfund” sites and degraded urban

waterways are increasingly given attention in DC and across the country, the students who learned and played in Kenilworth Park will become leaders of a new generation of environmentally literate, economically innovative and socially conscious citizens and professionals.

Works

CITED

1 Swyngedouw, Erik, and Nikolas C Heynen. “Urban Political Ecology, Justice and the Politics of Scale.” Antipode 35, no. 5 (2003): 898–918. 2 Homan, Timothy R. “Unemployment Rate in Washington’s Ward 8 Is Highest in U.S.” Bloomberg. Accessed October 26, 2013. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-30/unemployment-rate-in-washington-s-ward-8-is-highest-in-u-s-.html. 3 Banerjee, Simanti, Silvia Secchi, Joseph Fargione, Stephen Polasky, and Steven Kraft. “How to Sell Ecosystem Services: a Guide for Designing New Markets.” Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 11, no. 6 (2013): 297–304. 4 Silderberg, Susan, Katie Lorah, Rebecca Disbrow, and Anna Muessig. Places in the Making: How Placemaking Builds Places and Communities. Boston: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2013. 5 “Restoring the Anacostia, ‘America’s Forgotten River,’ One Plant at a Time.” News Watch. Accessed June 3, 2014. http:// newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2012/07/20/restoring-the-anacostia-americas-forgotten-river-one-plant-at-a-time/. 6 Green Dashboard DC. River Health. Sustainable DC. Accessed October 25, 2012. http://greendashboard.dc.gov/Water/ RiverHealth 7 National Resource Defense Council. Cleaning Up the Anacostia River. Accessed May 30, 2014. http://www.nrdc.org/water/pollution/fanacost.asp 8 Damage Assessment, Remediation and Restoration Program. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Accessed May 30, 2014. http://www.darrp.noaa.gov/partner/anacostia/ 9 Damage Assessment, Remediation and Restoration Program. 10 Anacostia Watershed Society. Accessed October 30, 2013. http://www.anacostiaws.org/explore/watershed-info/faqs 11 Anacostia Watershed Society. 12 U.S. Census 2010. 13 Homan, Timothy R. “Unemployment Rate in Washington’s Ward 8 Is Highest in U.S.” 14 Anacostia Watershed Society. 15 United for a Healthy Anacostia River. Accessed May 30, 2014. http://www.healthyanacostiariver.org/#about 16 Engler, Mira. Designing America’s Waste Landscapes. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004. 17 Health Consultation: Kenilworth Park Landfill. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 1996. 18 Granley, Brad and Truong, Paul. A Changing Industry: On-site Phytoremediation of Landfill Leachate Using Trees and Grasses – Case Studies. Global Waste Management Symposium. 2012 19 Ficko, Sarah A, Allison Rutter, and Barbara A Zeeb. “Potential for Phytoextraction of PCBs from Contaminated Soils Using Weeds.” The Science of the Total Environment 408, no. 16 (July 15, 2010): 3469–76. 20 U.S. Census 2010 21 City Data: Detailed profile by zipcode. Accessed January 2014. http://www.city-data.com/ 22 DC Environmental Literacy Plan: Integrating Environmental Education into the K-12 Cirriculum. District Department of the Environment. 2012. 23 U.S. Census 2010 24 U.S. Census 2010

25 DC Environmental Literacy Plan. 26 Deanwood Strategic Development Plan. District of Columbia Office of Planning. March 2008. 27 Mostafavi, Mohsen. “Why Ecological Urbanism? Why Now?” In Ecological Urbanism, 12–51. Baden, Switzerland: Lars Müller Publishers, 2010. 28 Fainstein, Susan. “Urban Ecology and Social Justice.” In Urban Ecology. Baden, Switzerland: Lars Müller Publishers, 2010. p.301 29 National Park Service. http://www.nps.gov/ 29 Groundwork Anacostia River DC. http://groundworkdc.org/

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