Author Melanie Choukas-Bradley Talks Rock Creek Park
Rock Creek Park, as old a national park as Yosemite and twice the size of Central Park in New York City, provides refuge for millions of Washington, D.C., residents and visitors each year.
When my family dragged me kicking and screaming from our home near Sugarloaf Mountain in the Maryland countryside 12 years ago to be nearer to schools and work in the city, Rock Creek Park quickly became my salvation, my “wild home” and the source of inspiration for my fourth book.
I spend every moment I can under the spectacular trees of the Rock Creek canopy, leading walks for local conservation organizations or just quietly listening for the ethereal song of the wood thrush and the unmistakable chatter of a belted kingfisher cruising the creek for fish. The Rock Creek floodplain has been awash in Virginia bluebells, spring beauties and other ephemeral wildflowers this spring and the wild pink azaleas called pinxters are now unfurling their blooms on rock outcrops throughout the Rock Creek stream valley.
I’ve traveled the 33 mile length of Rock Creek, from Laytonsville, Md., to Georgetown, on foot, by bicycle, via cross country skis and even in a canoe, and I’ll describe my adventures at the Gaithersburg Book Festival and share my conviction that a deep, close connection with nature can enrich our lives.
There’s nothing on our iPhones as juicy as what we find in nature, and global health studies are even beginning to show that being in the forest can lower our blood pressure and improve our mental health. Rock Creek Park is my refuge from a frantically paced, urbanized world. It’s my church, my school, my gym and my therapist, the primary place where I seek to celebrate the restorative powers of nature. I look forward to sharing my love of the park with you!
Melanie Choukas-Bradley is the author of four natural history books, including the highly acclaimed “City of Trees: The Complete Field Guide to the Trees of Washington, D.C.,” which has been published in three editions during a 34-year period. Her newest book, “A Year in Rock Creek Park—the Wild, Wooded Heart of Washington, D.C.,” recently received a silver medal silver medal in the 2015 Independent Publisher Book Awards for the Mid-Atlantic Best Regional Non-Fiction category. Melanie is also author of two books about Sugarloaf Mountain in Maryland. She leads tree tours and field trips for Casey Trees, the Audubon Naturalist Society (ANS), the Nature Conservancy and the U.S. Botanic Garden and she teaches plant identification courses for the Natural History Field Studies Program of the Graduate School USA and ANS. Melanie lectures widely and has been a guest on the Diane Rehm Show, the Kojo Nnamdi Show and All Things Considered. In 2014, she was awarded one of four inaugural Canopy Awards by Casey Trees.