Loudoun County-Operated Parks

Several habitat restoration projects have improved the fishing opportunities and water quality within Claude Moore Park and ultimately in the Chesapeake Bay. The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (VDGIF) staff and Claude Moore Park Summer Naturalist Interns installed bio-logs and coconut fiber mats, purchased by the park. These stabilize the shoreline by allowing plants to grow through the mats and logs to reduce the silt in the pond. Eagle Scout Gabriel Perez oversaw the building of a new fishing pier, providing fishing access while reducing the impact on the shore.

Summer Naturalist Interns and VDGIF staff installed bio-logs (left) and coconut fiber mats along the shore and dam (right) to reduce silt in Frogshackle Pond. Cleaner water will produce healthier fish and better fishing opportunities.

Planting Trees and Shrubs

Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts and a local school helped plant trees and shrubs to slow and filter rainwater entering the pond. Cub Scout Pack 951 planted 51 shrubs. Fourth, fifth and sixth grade students from Faith Christian School planted fifty-seven trees and shrubs. 

Michael Bromley oversaw his Eagle Scout project planting eleven huge sugar maple trees, building steps into a hill, and clearing drainage ways.

Cub Scouts and parents from 
 Meadowland Elementary 
 Pack 951 work near
Frogshackle Pond

Park staff planted nine additional mature trees near the pond. All of the trees and shrubs, plus a buffer of wildflowers, were purchased by our advisory board, The Friends of Claude Moore Park, using a grant from the Chesapeake Bay Restoration Fund. In addition, Eagle Scout, Brad Birth and his crew, moved fifteen cedars and cleaned ditches along Vestal’s Gap Road as part of this watershed project.

Cub Scouts and Parents from Meadowland Elementary Pack 951 planted Silky Dogwood and Spicebush west of Lanesville Stream and Serviceberry, Buttonbush, Arrow-wood Viburnum and Winterberry near Frogshackle Pond. Plants were purchased with a grant from the Chesapeake Bay Restoration Fund.

Pawpaw trees were planted in a grove near Frogshackle Pond by Faith Christian School’s volunteer teams.

These students also lined Vestal’s Gap Road with Redbud trees (right) and planted Blackhaw Viburnum to the east of Lanesville Stream.

Chesapeake Bay Restoration Fund

Click on the license plate to find out more about the Chesapeake Bay Restoration Fund. Having a crab on your license plate does much more than let other drivers know you enjoy the Chesapeake Bay. Money generated from the sale of Friend of the Chesapeake license plates is used to fund projects that restore or educate people about the bay.