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Total
Area: 1,130.24 acres
(1.77 Square miles)
Average Imperviousness: 37%
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Population:
3,100
Population Density: 1,751/mile2
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Forest
Cover (14.4%)
Acres
Deciduous: 70.7
Coniferous: 13.1
Mixed: 49.6
Shrubland/Rangelands: 43.4
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Wetland
Cover (0.3%)
Acres
Deciduous Wooded: 1.1
Evergreen Wooded: 1.3
Emergent Herb-Sedge: 0.4
Mixed: 0.0
Open Water: 0.4
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Hickey
Run
is primarily a direct free-flowing tributary of the tidal
Anacostia River. The stream is tidally influenced along the
lowest quarter mile reach in the vicinity of its shared ownership
boundary between the USDA National Arboretum and the National
Park Service. Hickey Run joins the tidal river immediately
upstream of Kingman Lake, at the boundary between the National
Arboretum and the Langston Golf Course, and approximately
a mile downstream of District-Maryland boundary line. The
Hickey Run subwatershed is generally outlined by South Dakota
Avenue to the north and east, Bladensburg Road to the north
and west, and the southern portion of the National Arboretum
to the south. The subwatershed is located completely within
the District of Columbia.
Dominant
Land Uses: Dominant land uses in the subwatershed include
parkland (34%), industrial (30%), and residential (29%).
Physical
Characteristics: The Hickey Run subwatershed is 1,330.24
acres (1.77 mi2) in size and approximately 37% impervious.
Elevations range from approximately 150 feet along the northwestern
edge of the subwatershed to five feet at its confluence with
the tidal river. Hickey Run, which is completely in the Coastal
Plain physiographic province, has an average gradient of 0.62%
across 0.9 miles of mainstem. The drainage network is almost
completely enclosed, with no natural channel section remaining
upstream of New York Avenue.
Biological
Characteristics: In a rapid bioassessment of Hickey Run,
Johnson (1989) observed the following: 1) Species richness:
Fair/Poor (12 species); 2) EPT Index: Poor (1 species); 3)
Biotic Index: Poor (3.97 index value, indicating organic pollution);
4) EPT- Ch Ratio: Poor (1:5 ratio); 5) % Chironomidae: Fair
(30%, indicates a slight organic problem); 6) % Tubificidae:
Poor (68%, indicates toxicity); 7) % Dominant Species: Poor
(55%); Overall water quality rating: Poor. Toxicity from urban
runoff is indicated, due to the absence of nearly all groups
except chironomids and tubificids. The resultant Biotic index
indicates an organics problem.
Condition
Summary: Hickey Run is a highly urbanized subwatershed,
largely developed prior to the enactment of stormwater management
requirements. It is dominated by industrial and residential
land uses, and major road and railway corridors traverse the
middle of the subwatershed. The Hickey Run subwatershed has
the highest percentage of industrial land use (30%) within
the Anacostia watershed. The upper portion of the subwatershed
has been radically altered as a result of the older character
of its development. The drainage network is completely enclosed,
with no natural channel section remaining upstream of New
York Avenue. In the southern half of the subwatershed, the
mainstem of Hickey Run exits a storm drain system at the downstream
side of New York Avenue. From this point, the stream flows
in both natural and lined open channels across the USDA National
Arboretum property that is comprised of meadow, lawn and forest.
The downstream tidally influenced reach of Hickey Run, owned
by the National Park Service, flows through natural open channel
within a narrow forested buffer and subsequently joins the
mainstem of the tidal Anacostia.
Hickey
Run has a history of chronic and episodic petroleum hydrocarbon
pollution that extends back in excess of 50 years. Transportation
related activities, which dominate the upper drainage area
above New York Avenue, are believed to be the source of this
pollution (Shepp, 1991). A joint effort between the District
government (DCRA-ERA) and MWCOG to solve the hydrocarbon problem
is underway, with two of three phases of the project complete.
In the first phase, MWCOG staff developed field-verified land
use and storm drain system maps, identified and surveyed potentially
polluting commercial handlers of waste petroleum products,
and developed and installed a prototype storm drain petroleum
hydrocarbon tracing system (Shepp and Cole, 1993). In the
second phase, MWCOG staff expanded the initial prototype into
a 70-station storm drain tracing system and produced an information
pamphlet focusing on the problem and impacts of improper waste
oil disposal (Shepp and Parikh, 1994). The Phase 3 work is
planned and consists of training staff in the operation and
maintenance of the tracing system, conducting tracing operations
as necessary, and documenting the results and probable sources
of the pollution.
Through
the combination of uncontrolled stormwater runoff, extensive
modification through enclosure of the natural drainage system
in the upper subwatershed, and the long history and ongoing
problem of waste petroleum hydrocarbon dumping to the storm
drain system, Hickey Run has the dubious distinction of being
the most degraded stream in the Anacostia watershed and one
of the most degraded urban streams in the entire Chesapeake
Bay drainage. Hickey Run has been designated as a priority
subwatershed for restoration by the Anacostia Watershed Restoration
Committee, and a Subwatershed Action Plan has been prepared
by MWCOG to guide these efforts (Shepp, 1991).
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