MNPS Field Trip: Wild Washington- Oxon Run Bog (Sunday)

Sponsoring Organization: Maryland Native Plant Society

143rd walk in the Wild Washington- Forts series

We will return, after many years, to Oxon Run Bog.  Though not a Civil War Fort this is a magnolia bog below a terrace gravel formation (like the upland Fort sites)
“Acidic and mossy seeps, magnolia bogs occur only below gravel terraces of the inner mid-Atlantic Coastal Plain. Closely associated with terrace gravel forests, these wetlands usually occupy less than an acre on slopes comprised of soils deposited millions of years ago by the Potomac River. Water infiltration and leaching has left the soils acidic and free of the organic materials that characterize true peat bogs. When water percolates from the upland sands and gravels over an impervious layer of clay, downward flow is prevented, and moisture is directed out of the hillside. This hydro-geology creates optimal conditions for bog formation.” National Park Service

Leaders: Mary Pat Rowan and David Culp with Jim Rosenstock, formerly with the National Park Service.

FREE

Notes: Uneven and wet ground.

Contact: (for additional information; not to register) Mary Pat Rowan, blair-rowan@starpower.net, 202-526-8821; or David Culp on his cell 202-415-1594.

Directions: In Southeast Washington DC, we will meet on the upper parking deck of the Southern Avenue Metro Station which is on the Metro Green Line. If you drive, parking is abundant there and free on Sunday.