News Release

Share your thoughts on the future of Anacostia Park

Date: September 25, 2023
Contact: Vince Vaise, 202-359-1717

WASHINGTON– The National Park Service (NPS) invites the public to comment on preliminary management concepts for the future of Anacostia Park. Everyone is invited to help shape the long-term vision for the park and provide feedback from Sept. 27 through Dec. 1. 

Anacostia Park, an expansive, more than 1,100-acre park, offers a mix of natural areas and cultural sites, with numerous recreational amenities along the shores of the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C.  The NPS is currently looking at ways to improve the area of Anacostia Park north of the 11th Street Bridge and south of the CSX tracks.  

The NPS has developed preliminary management concepts that:  

• Offer a range of ways to improve access from nearby neighborhoods and trails to the park. 

• Support current and future recreational and community use, park programming, and special events.

• Address maintenance issues.

• Adapt infrastructure to support current and future recreational uses.

• Increase resiliency of facilities in areas of frequent flooding.

In 2021, the NPS developed the vision and goals for the project with public input and an initial set of design concepts were shared with stakeholders for feedback. To address concerns that design concepts needed to be rooted in an appreciation for the culture of the surrounding neighborhoods and community desires for the future, the NPS and stakeholder partners delayed progression of design concepts to broaden community engagement efforts. The current and upcoming comment periods have been enhanced to engage larger numbers of stakeholders representing Ward 7 and 8 residents, and to include activities that engage individuals and organizations historically less involved in NPS planning efforts.  

The NPS is committed to hearing from more voices in the community about what they love about Anacostia Park and want for the future of this culturally significant and beloved community space. When design concepts are refined, there will be another robust public engagement period.    

How to get involved 

Public participation is vital to the planning process. Public input will be used to inform the development and refinement of concepts of a plan. There are several ways to get involved. 

Attend the public meeting or community event: 

• September 27 at 6 p.m.
  • Development concept plan virtual meeting  

• September 30 at 3 to 7 p.m.

  • Late Skate at Anacostia Park  

• October 14 at 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

  • Frederick Douglass Family Day at Frederick Douglass National Historic Site located at 1411 W St SE, Washington, DC 20020   

• October 28 at 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.

  • Late Skate at Anacostia Park 

Submit comments: 

To provide comments online or get additional information on the project, visit: https://parkplanning.nps.gov/Reimagine_AnacostiaPark_PrelimDesign.  

If you prefer to mail your comments, make sure they are postmarked by Dec. 1 to receive consideration. Mail comments to: 

National Capital Parks-East 

Attn: ANAC DCP / Superintendent    

1900 Anacostia Drive SE 

Washington, DC 20020 


If you’d like to receive notifications on this project, you may request to be added to the project mailing list by emailing [e-mail].

Please Note: Before including your address, phone number, e-mail address, or other personal identifying information in your comment, you should be aware that your entire comment – including your personal identifying information – may be made publicly available at any time. While you can ask us in your comment to withhold your personal identifying information from public review, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so.