FTJF Stewardship “Parties”
The Friends of The Jones Falls Stewardship Committee advocates for the responsible management of the Jones Falls Watershed and its connecting communities and ecosystems.
Our current focus is on Non-Native Invasive (NNI) Species removal along a roughly 1/2-mile stretch of the Jones Falls Trail between Baltimore Bicycle Works (A) and uphill of the Ma & Pa Railroad Roundhouse (B) – as an “entry point” into habitat restoration and improved trail experience.
From a $36,580 Chesapeake Bay Trust grant won last year, contractors are scheduled in October, 2025, to treat for the removal of maturing Tree-of-heaven (Ailanthus altissima) and Callery pear (Pyrus calleryana) trees. Replacement native saplings will be installed in Spring, 2026.
Since November, 2023, we’ve hosted more than 50 NNI Species Removal “Parties,” engaging more than 400 volunteers, unburdening more than 830 trees of climbing, choking vines, removing over 500 non-native tree saplings (primarily Tree-of-heaven and Callery pear) and quantities of English ivy ground cover. Over 1,100 volunteer hours have been invested in this canopy-preserving work by caring weed warriors!
An detailed work Tracker is kept here; our long-term NNI area management plan here.
Come Party with us! Help us sustain and expand our NNI removal efforts. We have fun doing this stewardship work together. That’s why we call ’em Parties!
Or contact melissa.rae.campanella@gmail.com for more information.
Jones Falls Watershed Strategic Plan Calls for Wide Participation
If one were to ask a resident of Caves Valley, West Towson, Park Heights or Charles Village what watershed they live in, odds are that few would probably say the Jones Falls. Probably most would answer the Chesapeake Bay, due in large part to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation’s successful advocacy over almost 60 years.
Starting this Fall, the FTJF wants to create the same strong connection throughout the Jones Falls Watershed (or the Watershed) with a 2-year strategic plan initiative funded by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF). Visit the project website here.
The Watershed is an 18-mile, 37,290-acre area that begins in pastoral northwest Baltimore County at Garrison Forest Rd. and extends as a degraded stream from the Baltimore City Line to the Inner Harbor by the Fallsway and Pier 6. In all, the watershed is home to over 230,000 people and mainly known for the areas around Lake Roland and further south along Falls Rd. Less well known are the major tributaries to its north and west including Deep Run, the North Branch and Moore’s Run and Western Run.
From its founding in 2018 by Sandy Sparks and other Jones Falls advocates, the FTJF organization recognized the need for a volunteer-based organization with the mission to support and sustain the quality of life and long-term stewardship of the Jones Falls in Baltimore City and County.
In 2024, to provide strategic guidance to its mission, the FTJF with Central Baltimore Partnership (CBP) applied for and received a highly competitive NFWF national planning grant of $149,750 to prepare a strategic plan for the entire Watershed. Previous studies of 10 or more years ago focused on water quality in connection with City and County Municipal Storm Sewer System MS4 goals, and were more limited to environmental monitoring and remediation recommendations.
The FTJF 2-year Strategic Plan will be more holistic and community-driven, focusing on environmental equity, climate resilience, public access and habitat restoration through land use and environmental best management practices.
We are hiring Biohabitats Chesapeake/Delaware Bays Bioregion, with offices in Clipper Mill, Baltimore City, as our environmental consultant for the whole watershed. Ashley Traut, Gaiacene Services, will be the NFWF Grant Manager. The planning process will be overseen by an overall Steering Committee. We are especially pleased that Sen. Ben Cardin, FTJF’s “Inaugural Champion of The Jones Falls,” agreed to serve as Honorary Chair.
The Steering Committee now includes:
Ben Cardin, U. S. Senator (Ret.) Honorary Chair
Al Barry, FTJF Board, AB Associates, Chair
Ellen Janes, CBP, Co-Chair
Sandy Sparks, FTJF Board President
Mac McComas, FTJF Board, Steering Committee Secretary, JHU 21st Century Cities Initiative
Ken Belt, Hydrologist, Maryland Natural History Society, UMBC Baltimore Ecosystem Study
Maggie McIntosh, Environmental Leader
Laurie Schwartz, Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore
Matt Stegman, Chesapeake Bay Foundation
Alice Volpitta, Blue Water Baltimore, Baltimore Harborkeeper
Ex Officio
Delegate Regina T. Boyce, FTJF Board
Delegate Sheila Ruth, FTJF Board
Delegate Dana Stein
The 2-year Strategic Plan is designed around three planning teams for the Upper, Middle and Lower & Inner Harbor sections of the Watershed. The Upper team will be based at the Irvine Nature Center and led by Brooks Paternotte, Executive Director. The Middle Team will be based at Park School and led by Julie Rogers, The Park School Baltimore Science faculty. Marian Glebes will chair the Lower & Inner Harbor Team with meetings at Baltimore Unity Hall.
Beginning this fall, each of these teams will coordinate and promote major Stakeholder Meetings, directed by Biohabitats, for community and environmental leaders, local and State partners. An important goal of the strategic plan will be to promote more cooperation and consistency between Baltimore City and County governments by updating existing efforts to be as holistic as possible and identifying policy changes and restoration opportunities that improve water quality, habitat diversity and environmental equity. At the conclusion of the study in the Fall 2027, the FTJF will sponsor a regional conference to present the Jones Falls Watershed findings.
Beginning in 1854 when Baltimore City essentially took over Lake Roland, followed by the 1904 Olmsted Brothers Report, “Development of Public Grounds for Greater Baltimore,” subsequent City Plans in 1919 and 1926 recognized the value of protecting each of the region’s watersheds. In 1961, the Greater Baltimore Committee prepared a detailed preservation plan for the Jones Falls Valley. City voters followed by approving a $2 million dollar bond that unfortunately was never implemented due to the City’s decision to build the Jones Falls Expressway over the stream.
Efforts have already begun to identify other past environmental studies, and also to complement ongoing reports by organizations such as Blue Water Baltimore. This strategic planning process will give residents and stakeholders of the region an understanding of the environmental interdependence of this expansive area—critical to their quality of life—and opportunities to provide diverse input over two years.
This will be an historic opportunity to participate in the Jones Falls Watershed Strategic Plan in both the City and County. We welcome and look forward to your help! A schedule of the initial extensive outreach efforts will be announced early this fall. I encourage you to contact me for updates and to follow Friends of The Jones Falls.
-Al Barry, FTJF Board Member, Jones Falls Strategic Plan Chair, ababalt@yahoo.com
STATEMENT: Relocating Sisson Street Recycling Center to 2801 Falls Road
Your Bar Tab Will Support FTJF All Month!
All of August, Union Craft in Medfield is offering its new Roundup & Match program benefiting FTJF.
The official kickoff is Wednesday, August 6th, from 4:30 to 8pm where FTJF Board members will be on hand to talk about its 2-Year Strategic Plan for the Watershed and other important initiatives. Come get a brew and something to eat.
And, by all means, please come see us! Bring your ideas to share!
Experiencing a Major Stream and Wetlands Restoration Project Along the Upper Jones Falls
Some FTJF Board and Stewardship Committee members and a couple of others hiked recently in and around the Upper Jones Falls with an owner of the Eccleston Mitigation site in Baltimore County where more than 10,000 linear feet of the stream and 15 acres of wetlands have been reclaimed under a state conservation easement program six-plus years in the making.
Incidentally, the Jones Falls above Lake Roland (the Upper Jones Falls) is classified as Use III, meaning “non-tidal cold water.” It is “suitable for the support and protection of naturally reproducing trout populations.” From Lake Roland down to the Inner Harbor (the Lower Jones Falls), the stream is Use IV, meaning “recreational trout stocking waters.” This segment suggests suitability “for recreational activities related to trout, likely including fishing for stocked trout.” (Reference: Maryland DEP.)
The restoration actions accomplished are a big enhancement to habitat for non-native Brown trout and other wild fish living in the stream. For one, better flowing stream water leads to higher oxygen levels in the water. For another, a healthy flow of nutrients and organic matter through streams has a positive effect on natural food webs.
From contractor JMT’s “Projects” page: “The entire site was deforested as recently as 60 years ago according to historical aerial photos, and multiple buried tile locations were identified within the project limits as evidence of purposefully drained wetlands to increase tillable farmland. Additionally, emerald ash borer destroyed much of the green ash canopy on which the stream reach formerly depended upon for thermal regulation.”
Further: “The principal restoration design goal for the mitigation site was to restore and stabilize the brown trout fishery on the Upper Jones Falls. Approximately 30 years of data have identified that brown trout are decreasing in numbers as the water temperature warms due to watershed development and climate change. The fact that this stream flows from Baltimore County and through the center of Baltimore City, and provides the future potential for the brown trout population to increase within the city limits, make it a desirable project for Baltimore County and Baltimore City.”
15,000 trees and shrubs were planted in support of the stream restoration/floodplain reconnection project.
-The Editors
Another Stream Restoration Project along the Upper Jones Falls
Late last month Maryland Trout Unlimited (MTU) Board member Darin Crew led eight FTJF Board and Stewardship Committee members on a hike to learn about and see directly the stream restoration work along a nearly 600 ft. section of the Jones Falls in the County, just south of I-83.
As one among the group put it: “I was amazed to learn that Brown trout are an integral part of this section of the Jones Falls. [MTU] has achieved part of its mission of stream restoration, showing that it can be done!”
What follows is a reprint of Darin’s September 12, 2017, blog post about the project for Blue Water Baltimore.
“A Shocking Discovery in the Jones Falls”
Some like it hot. Trout like it cool. To put [it] in scientific terms, they are a “coldwater obligate” species — meaning if the water is too warm (or too dirty), you won’t find any. As we work to make our waters swimmable and fishable, we need to make sure trout populations can thrive. And since trout are so sensitive to pollution and warm water, we can use them as a ‘barometer’ of ecosystem health.
Last year, Blue Water Baltimore implemented the Jones Falls Stream Restoration project, the largest single-site restoration project in our organization’s history. We replaced 560 linear feet of concrete channel with natural features, creating deep pools that lower ambient water temperature. This work will provide significant water quality improvements, with a projected reduction of over 100 pounds of nitrogen pollution annually.
To read the rest of Darin’s blog post, click here.
-The Editors
Constructed Habitat Wetland at Union Collective
Arising out of the 2019 Union Collective Green Infrastructure Master Plan (referenced below the Major Projects toolbar interface) is a major environmental remediation project on privately-owned Baltimore City property in the spring of 2025.
The project entailed the installation of an artificial wetland on a 0.52-acre site between the Jones Falls and the Union Collective asphalt parking lot uphill of it. The purpose of this installation is to intercept stormwater runoff coming from the paved lot, to clean it of toxic vehicular fluids and dust that regularly settle on impervious surfaces between rain storms. When the polluted stormwater is running into the wetland, it is filtered through the soils and aquatic vegetation rather than fouling the Jones Falls below. Constructed wetlands are a Green Infrastructure Best Management Practice.
This project already hosts a colorful array of wildlife, including birds, waterfowl, amphibians and insects.
For the first phase of the project, the FTJF was awarded $204,348 by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, $73,984 from the Chesapeake Bay Trust which financial partner included the Baltimore City Department of Public Works, and $42,000 awarded by two Baltimore-based private foundations.
Phase 2 is expected to start construction the spring of 2026 with a hoped-for dedication around Earth Day in April. It will feature an accessible boardwalk partially rimming the wetland, and educational signage. Its funding source is a $142,075 grant from litigation settlement proceeds of the Fleischmann’s Vinegar plant fish kills in the Jones Falls until it was permanently shuttered. It has since been demolished.
-The Editors
Lend a Hand – Join One of Our Earth Day 2025 “Parties”
A Good Walk
Friends of The Jones Falls 