Dierssen Wildlife Management Area

Dierssen Wildlife Management Area
IUCN category V (protected landscape/seascape)
Dierssen WMA, East Impoundment
Location	Montgomery County, Maryland, U.S.
Coordinates	39.05836°N 77.30398°W / 39.05836; -77.30398
Area	40 acres (0.16 km^2)
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

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".

External links

• Dierssen Wildlife Management Area