If you鈥檝e been down to the Tidal Basin lately, you may have noticed a lot has changed along the water.
The National Park Service said the Tidal Basin portion of the sea wall restoration project will be completed by the end of April, reopening the newly rebuilt area to visitors. The work addresses decades of problems with a failing sea wall that allowed tidal water to regularly spill onto walkways and soak the roots of cherry trees.
Mike Litterst, spokesman for the National Park Service, said the project was designed to protect the basin for the long term while also improving access for visitors. He said walkways around the basin have been widened, giving people more room to move around not just during cherry blossom season, but throughout the year.
While much of the sea wall is new, Litterst said visitors will still see pieces of history built into it.
鈥淚f you look closely, you鈥檒l see that there are different colors of stone that are used in the sea wall,鈥� Litterst said.
Some of those stones date back to the original early 20th century sea wall and were incorporated into the new structure, preserving elements of the basin鈥檚 historic design.
Along with the sea wall work, hundreds of new cherry trees are already in the ground as part of a rebuilt landscape around the basin. Many of those trees are Okame cherry trees, which are similar to the more familiar Yoshino trees but bloom about two weeks earlier, bringing color to the Tidal Basin sooner in the spring.
National Park Service urban forester Matthew Morrison, who helps oversee the trees, said many were carefully hand selected from nurseries outside the DC region.
鈥淲e were down in North Carolina hand selecting trees, and Tennessee,鈥� Morrison said. 鈥淎fter walking thousands of acres and looking at thousands of trees, we selected about 400 that we brought home.鈥�
Once planted, Morrison said care for the young trees begins almost immediately. Crews are 鈥渟tructurally pruning鈥� them to help the trees better withstand storms and other harsh conditions as they mature.
鈥淲e鈥檝e learned, the science of arbor culture has advanced itself far enough, that we know the structure of the trees that survive in adverse weather conditions,鈥� Morrison said.
Over time, Morrison said the cherry trees planted close together around the basin will begin to function as a connected system underground.
鈥淭heir roots are going to graft together, their canopies are going to overlap,” he said.
When that happens, he said the trees will work together at times, helping to provide nutrients to the least healthy trees.
“That grove of individual trees is going to become one superorganism, and it’s going to work as one,鈥� he said.
Even a cherry tree that was removed for the project remains part of the restoration. The tree known as 鈥淪tumpy,鈥� which became a favorite among visitors, still plays a role in caring for the new plantings.
鈥淲hen Stumpy met its demise, we ground it up and made wood chips,鈥� Morrison said. 鈥淭he wood chips are integral to conditioning the soil and adding nutrients, macro and micronutrients, into the soil.”
Those wood chips are now part of the mulch around the new cherry trees, helping nourish the next generation growing along the Tidal Basin.
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