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  • A beautiful day. Kayaks await and the water is calling.
  • The group is ready to set out!
  • Steve Bunker, director of conservation programs for the Maryland/DC Chapter, shows the group a map of protected areas around Nanjemoy Creek.
  • Nanjemoy Creek has been called the Potomac River's "green thumb” — about 80 percent of the Nanjemoy watershed remains forested.
  • Since establishing Nanjemoy Creek Preserve in 1978, The Nature Conservancy has worked to assemble a jig-saw of forested areas, helping conserve more than 3,510 acres to date.
  • The preserve was established to protect a large breeding colony of great blue herons that returns here every February. On this day on the water, herons were in evidence, along with bald eagles and red tailed hawks.
  • Kate Arion is the Conservancy's community engagement specialist for Maryland/DC. Not a bad day at the office.
  • Our Nanjemoy project area covers more than 48,000, offering a rare opportunity to save and restore an enormous block of intact forest.
  • A fallen log blocked the path, but a little heave-ho team work kept everyone on the move.
  • Local farmer and naturalist Calvert R. Posey, Nanjemoy's site manager for many years, kept a detailed — though by no means complete — field journal listing 48 tree species, 86 wildflowers (including rare Virginia wild ginger), and numerous creatures: snakes, skinks and salamanders, to name a few.
  • The Conservancy’s ultimate goal is to protect a forested ecosystem large enough to function as nature intended, encompassing most, if not all, of the area's common and rare species.
  • Raccoons, bobcats, skunks, squirrels and migratory songbirds inhabit Nanjemoy's woods; otters swim the creek; and the rare dwarf wedgemussel (found in only 20 sites worldwide) thrives in the sandy-mud bottom of stream banks.
  • The preserve is just one special feature of the Nanjemoy Project Area, a recreational dream.
  • A perfect way to spend a summer Saturday - learning more about the natural world while moving through it.
Kayaking Nanjemoy Creek
A day on the water connects people to nature and each other.