In a wooded corridor of Fort Dupont Park, one of Washington, DC’s largest urban green spaces, a narrow stream winds its way toward the Anacostia River. At first glance it looks ordinary, a small channel slipping through trees and brush. But decades of urban stormwater runoff have carved the channel deep into the landscape, severing it from the surrounding floodplain. Water that once spread across the landscape now races through a confined channel, accelerating erosion and carrying sediment and nutrients toward the Anacostia River, compromising habitat for fish and wildlife, and undermining the trails and green spaces that connect the surrounding community to the park.

The District Department of Energy & Environment (DOEE) is leading a restoration effort along approximately 1.5 miles of stream, one of nine coordinated projects aimed at restoring more than 18,000 linear feet of degraded stream within the Fort Dupont Watershed. The restoration uses regenerative stream design, combining rock cascades, post-assisted log structures (PALS), and a raised streambed to reduce stream energy, rebuild the channel bed, and restore the floodplain connection that once allowed storm flows to slow and settle across the landscape. The broader District-wide initiative also includes culvert replacements and stream daylighting to improve fish passage and aquatic connectivity.