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National Capital Parks-East - Nature and ScienceNational Capital Parks - East (NACE) includes 14 major park areas and a total of 98 locations within the District of Columbia and three nearby counties in Maryland. Together these areas provide habitat and protection for at least 108 extant species of plants and animals listed as rare, threatened or endangered in the State of Maryland or the District of Columbia by the Maryland Natural Heritage Program. These include 90 species of vascular plants and 20 animals (6 vertebrates and 14 invertebrates). The majority of these (83 species) can be found in Piscataway Park. Of these 83 species, 70 are plants, including significant populations of state endangered species such as Veined Skullcap (Scutellaria nervosa) and Hitchcock’s Sedge (Carex hitchcockiana). Piscataway Park is also one of only two known locations in the State of Maryland that provide habitat for an extant population of the Yellow Lampmussel (Lampsilis cariosa). Rare plant communities such as the Accokeek Creek Shell-Marl Ravine Forest with its associated Paleocene fossil outcrops can be found on the Park’s uplands and the state rare Grass-leaved Arrowhead / Riverbank Quillwort tidal community alliance can be found along the shores of Piscataway Creek along with nesting Bald Eagles. Other NACE sites with significant natural features include Oxon Run Parkway which contains the only known Northern (McAteean) Magnolia Bog in the jurisdiction of the National Park Service, the District of Columbia’s last tidal marsh located at Kenilworth Park, and the scenic vistas of the Nation’s Capital from the Fort Circle Parks, Civil War Defenses of Washington. The natural areas within NACE are so rich in biodiversity that they are not yet fully known. As recently as 1988 a new species of invertebrate animal, the copepod Acanthocyclops columbiensis, was found at two sites within NACE jurisdiction. Environmental Factors Natural Features Crustaceans Mollusks Other Invertebrates Trees and Shrubs Nonnative Species Beaches Coasts / Shorelines Flood Plains Forests Fossils Pools Rivers and Streams Soils Springs and Seeps Watersheds Wetlands, Marshes and Swamps |
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