Old Courthouse Spring Branch Stream Valley Park includes a lush forest, nationally-recognized wetlands, a habitat for animals and plants, a flood plain that prevents nearby houses and businesses from flooding, and a stream that runs into the Chesapeake Bay.

Expanding on our successful campaign to “Save Tysons Last Forest” (www.SaveTysonsLastForest.org), the Neighborhood Coalition created this sustainable electronic resource to promote this park and protect it forever.  Adults and students worked together to create this website.  Please peruse the following pages as they describe the environmental benefits of the stream valley with text, photographs, and video.

ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFITS OF THE STREAM VALLEY

• Saving the Bay – Protected by state law as a “Resource Protection Area (RPA) and by County categorization as an “Environmental Quality Corridor” because its stream leads to the Chesapeake Bay;
• Preventing Flooding – A “100-year floodplain” that protects our homes, roads, and businesses from flooding;
• Maintaining Water Quality – A critical part of Difficult Run Watershed, maintaining the stream is valuable for proper stormwater management and good water quality;
• Protecting Wetlands – Contains nationally-recognized “wetlands,” which house the stream valley, a Palustrine forest of mature trees, and varied vegetation,
• Providing Animal Habitat for animals, such as deer, turtles, woodpeckers, owls, fish, and a potentially rare invertebrate species of animal according to the Park Authority.

Protecting these environmental benefits is consistent with State law, the Fairfax County Comprehensive Plan (as it relates to Tysons Last Forest), the Fairfax County Environmental Quality Corridor Advisory Council’s 2015 Report, and Fairfax County Park Authority analysis.

DIRECT BENEFITS TO COUNTY RESIDENTS

Tysons Last Forest also provides other benefits to Fairfax County residents, such as

• Green Space – Aesthetic and recreational benefits of green space to nearby residents; and
• Historic Significance – Ash Grove Historic Site, 1790 home of Lord Fairfax himself.