Swanfall 2024:

Birds, Bugs and Berries: 

Providing Habitat for

Birds and Other Wildlife

It's time for the Friends of Mason Neck State Park's annual Swanfall holiday celebration. It's an opportunity to socialize with other members and their Friends while enjoying a delicious buffet and a fascinating talk. We'll celebrate Swanfall at Gunston Hall's Ann Mason Room on Sunday, December 8.

We'll start with an extensive buffet at 2 PM.

    

  

      

At 2:45 PM, we'll enjoy "Birds, Bugs and Berries: Providing Habitat for Birds and Other Wildlife" presented by Alonso Abugattas. Alonso is the Natural resources Manager for Arlington County, but he is best known as the Capital Naturalist, creator of the Capital Naturalist Facebook group with 24,000 members, and the Capital Naturalist You Tube channel. Alonso has had numerous mentions and appearances on television, radio, podcasts and the press, including appearances on Animal Planet, and makespresentations throughout the region.

 

You will also have a chance to see the award-winning photos of Mason Neck State Park from the Friends' annual "Picture the Magic" photo contest.

Swanfall is open to everyone. Members and one guest can attend for a special price of $15 per person. Non-members can attend for $20 per person. You can register here. 

If you aren't a member or your membership has lapsed, you can join the Friends here.

Picture The Magic 2024 Photo Contest Winners

Grand Prize -- Sunset Heron by Pete Thiringer

You can see all of the winning contest winners here.

All-terrain Wheelchair

The Park has a Trackmaster All-Terrain battery-powered wheelchair available for guests with limited mobility. The chair can be used on most of the park's trails, and is available without charge. Call the Park at 703-339-2385 for more information.

Join the Fight Against Disposable Plastic

The Friends of Mason Neck State Park are doing their part to slow the production and disposal of plastics.  Plastic bottles take as long as 450 years to decompose in the environment.  Before they do, they break down into "micro-plastic" bits that are eaten by animals and can end up in our own bodies.  On land, plastic adversely affects soil fertility, and can choke our streams and rivers.

The Friends of Mason Neck State Park have stopped offering disposable water bottles to Park volunteers and at Friends events.  Instead, they are offering free multi-use bottles that recipients can take home with them.  Hopefully, people will use these bottles instead of buying more disposable ones.  

Mason Neck State Park also is committed to reducing the use of disposable plastic bottles and has installed water bottle filling stations at the Visitor Center and the picnic area.           

Do your part too:  find ways to limit your use of disposable plastics, including those grocery store bags that have a typical useful life of 15 minutes -- the time to get from store to home -- and take 1000 years to decompose in a landfill.