Dierssen Wildlife Management Area

Last updated
Dierssen Wildlife Management Area
IUCN category V (protected landscape/seascape)
Dierssen WMA, East Impoundment.JPG
Dierssen WMA, East Impoundment
Location Montgomery County, Maryland, U.S.
Coordinates 39°03′30″N77°18′14″W / 39.05836°N 77.30398°W / 39.05836; -77.30398 Coordinates: 39°03′30″N77°18′14″W / 39.05836°N 77.30398°W / 39.05836; -77.30398
Area40 acres (0.16 km2)
Governing body Maryland Department of Natural Resources

Dierssen Wildlife Management Area is a Wildlife Management Area (WMA) near Seneca in Montgomery County, Maryland. [1] [2]

The WMA covers a 40-acre (16 ha) tract of marshy woodland, with two man-made ponds ('impoundments') for wildlife, located between Chesapeake & Ohio Canal towpath (mileposts 20.08 to 20.90 [3] ) and the Potomac River. The nearest access point is the Pennyfield Lock parking lot at MP 19.7.

Unlike most WMAs in Maryland, Dierrsen is a wildlife sanctuary - no hunting is allowed, but hiking and photography are encouraged. Because of the impoundments and location on the Potomac migration route, the tract is a well-known habitat for waterfowl, wading birds and songbirds. There are nesting boxes for wood ducks. Also present are white-tailed deer, gray and red fox, beaver, and wild turkeys. The site, donated as a waterfowl sanctuary, is named for Marshall Bidwell Dierssen. [4]

Dierssen West Impoundment Dierssen WMA, West Impoundment.JPG
Dierssen West Impoundment

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Rileys Lock Lock on the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal in Darnestown, Maryland, United States

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References

  1. "Dierssen WMA, Maryland Dept. of Natural Resources".
  2. "Protected Planet, World Database of Protected Areas, (WDPA ID# 55558165; Dierssen misspelled as Dierrsen)".
  3. Hahn, Thomas F. Swiftwater (1993). Towpath Guide to the C&O Canal: Georgetown Tidelock to Cumberland, Revised Combined Edition. Shepherdstown, WV: American Canal and Transportation Center. ISBN   0-933788-66-5. p. 50
  4. "Potomac River Guide, Dierssen Wildlife Sanctuary".