Reservation 630 West Mini-Oasis
The Reservation 630 West Mini-Oasis is located in the western section of Rock Creek Park’s Reservation 630 near Cleveland Park. This site is an island of park in a developed neighborhood and is home to the Cleveland Park Community Garden.
Fun Fact
This site directly abuts a National Park Service community garden from the WWII era. In 1942, the National Park Service designated space near the tributary as land available for 16 Victory Gardens.
Size: 10.6 acres
Status: Restoration in progress
Primary issue: Invasive plants and erosion along the tributary
Site Description
The Reservation 630 West Mini-Oasis has been stewarded by Conservancy staff and volunteers since 2015. The site features upland and floodplain forest consisting of secondary growth mature trees. The area currently houses a large variety of invasive plant species including, in some areas, an almost 100% coverage of groundcover English ivy. The site also features a large swath of bamboo directly south of the community garden.
Upcoming Work
Invasive Plant Removal: Volunteers regularly manage invasive plants across the site, including English ivy, bush honeysuckle, Japanese stiltgrass, and fountain grass.
Tree Planting: Rock Creek Conservancy is planning to replant native trees at Reservation 630 where mature tree of heaven trees have been removed.
Join us at an upcoming event to learn more about this mini-oasis and support its restoration. As events are scheduled, they will be added to the calendar below. If none are available at this time, we encourage you to view our full calendar here for more volunteer opportunities.
Restoration History
2024 Daylily Treatment: Conservancy staff are actively managing invasions by bulb producing plants, including daylily and liriope, which have colonized areas cleared of English ivy.
2023 Restoration Planting: Conservancy volunteers installed over 200 native plants in the forest understory, including: American hornbeam (Carpinus caroliniana), common buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis), bluestem goldenrod (Solidago caesia), and common woodrush (Luzula multiflora).
2022 Restoration Planting: Conservancy volunteers built upon the 2021 planting with an additional 63 trees, shrubs, and forbs, including: red maple (Acer rubrum), flowering dogwood (Cornus florida), and Christmas fern (Polystichum acrostichoides).
2021 Restoration Planting: Conservancy volunteers planted over 200 native shrubs, forbs, and ferns in the forest interior, including: cardinal flower (Lobelia cardenalis), wavy-leaf aster (Symphyotrichum undulatum), spicebush (Lindera benzoin), and lady fern (Athyrium filix-femina).
2019-2021 Bamboo Removal: Conservancy volunteers and the Rock Creek Conservation Corps contributed to the removal of invasive bamboo crowding the adjacent community garden.
2016-2017 Bush Honeysuckle Removal: For two years, volunteers focused on removing bush honeysuckle, as the site was dominated by mature invasive shrubs.
2015 Tree Planting by Casey Trees: Casey Trees installed 25 native trees to fill canopy gaps.
