Details on Nanjemoy Creek

This is a large preserve with many miles of boundary line, so we are looking for multiple Boundary Walkers. Some of the lines are easy to reach, as they are on roadsides, but most are not. Many of the lines have a definite back-country feel to them. The elevation of the lines ranges from around sea level at the creeks to 80 feet, so it is mostly flattish walking through upland woods and occasional wetlands. There are plenty of ticks and chiggers but they are usually gone by the time it’s best to do boundary work, when the leaves are off the trees.

Most of the lines are in good shape as of November 2006 because many of the tracts are recently acquired and surveyed. Some of the lines just have the corner markers set and some trees blazed, and the surveyors did not nail boundary signs to the trees. For those sections, the volunteers will need to be a bit more skilled to find those lines and do the initial sign-posting. We hope our new Boundary Walkers will be able to keep all the lines in good shape in the coming years.

This preserve is hunted by local hunters during legal deer season only (see DNR website for each year's schedule). So although autumn and winter, when the trees are bare, is the handiest time to do boundary work, most of us are more comfortable avoiding the preserve during deer season.

This preserve has no trails or visitor facilities. There are two old houses on different tracts, both of which need to be checked on a couple of times a year to make sure that our “Keep Out” signs are still posted. We plan to remove both of these houses eventually. There are also a number of areas that get trash dumped, particularly roadsides and out-of sight areas at the end of woods roads. While we can’t respond to that very quickly since it rarely has ecological effects, we would still like to know about it. There are also areas that are subject to ATV trespass, and we would welcome your observations about where the ATV’s are coming from.