Four Mile Run Conservatory Foundation

EIN: 81-1611867

Mission Statement

The Four Mile Run Conservatory Foundation promotes nature, culture, and community at lower Four Mile Run through restoration, advocacy, recreation, and education.

Program Summary

COMMUNITY STEWARDSHIP: we provide frequent opportunities for volunteers to improve the condition of lower Four Mile Run, such as land- and kayak-based litter clean-ups, native tree/shrub plantings, and invasive species removal.

YOUTH AND PUBLIC PROGRAMS: through our Nature Explorers And Restorers (NEAR) program, we offer outdoor learning opportunities for young people, mostly those from program partners that serve recently-immigrated families, families transitioning from homelessness, and underserved youth. NEAR programming is provided at no cost to them. Throughout the year we offer public interpretive programs, such as pop-up nature centers and park walks highlighting nature and local history.

CONSERVATION INTERNSHIPS: we offer part-time paid summer internships for high-school and college age youth, providing on-the-job experience in natural resource management, field research, and program leadership.

COMMUNITY SCIENCE: we conduct ongoing research with community volunteers and youth interns that includes wildlife camera surveys, water quality testing, and documentation of the ecosystem using the iNaturalist app and online mapping tools.

PARK IMPROVEMENT: we advocate for and seek out resources to support better park infrastructure. Projects have included signage, public drinking water sources, bird nesting boxes, and our current project to build an ADA-accessible kayak and canoe launch.

Impact Statement

We see lower Four Mile Run, its associated park lands, and its community as extraordinary in ecological and socioeconomic diversity, as well as in the range of activities that take place here, whether organized sports, outdoor recreation, informal play, fishing, picnicking, and more. The area’s demographic diversity is reflected in our volunteers, who come from the immediate neighborhood as well as from all across the DC metro region.

We continue to work to ensure the benefits of nearby nature are accessible to the community, both in terms of addressing physical barriers, as with our current project to build an ADA-accessible public kayak/canoe launch, and in terms of sociocultural barriers, as with translation of signage and interpretive materials.

In 2024, our results included:

    Coordinating 1,618 hours of volunteer service by 438 individual volunteers
    Leading 18 kayak-based and 16 land-based litter clean-ups that in total removed 5,138 pounds of litter
    Providing 12 Nature Explorers And Restorers (NEAR) outdoor learning programs for youth
    Installing a nesting gourd colony for Purple Martins
    Planting 29 trees and more than 50 wetland plants at three planting events
    Hosting 12 free public programs, including walks and pop-ups
Hosting 10 paid summer conservation interns and 7 high school senior experience/project students.

What ways can the public get involed?

Volunteering for land-based and kayak-based stream/park clean-ups, planting, and invasive plant removal events, participating in our local nature/history walks, visiting our pop-up nature centers and tables at local events.

How are charitable dollars spent? Where does my donation go?

Donations support project and program expenses. We do not receive County or City funding, and depend on donations and grants to support our work.

Information provided March 2025