Natural Resources of The Regional Park
Most of the landscaping in the park is left in a natural state to preserve green space and to provide wildlife habitat. Some natural areas within the park are contiguous to larger natural areas in adjacent public parks, including those in and around the Sparrow Pond wetland, Brandymore Castle and Four Mile Run in Arlington, Piney Branch and Difficult Run in Fairfax County, and the confluence of Goose Creek and Sycolin Creek in Loudoun County.
Park interpreters, local teachers, environmental groups and amateur naturalists use the park as a resource for plant and animal study. These groups have identified approximately 450 species of wildflowers and more than 100 species of birds in the park. Wildlife in the park includes mammals such as foxes, river otters and beavers, and reptiles such as turtles and snakes. A variety of hawks and owls and other resident, non-resident and migratory birds, both upland and aquatic, find habitat in the park.
Read more about this topic: Washington & Old Dominion Railroad Regional Park
Famous quotes containing the words natural, resources and/or park:
“Whenever there are in any country uncultivated lands and unemployed poor, it is clear that the laws of property have been so far extended as to violate natural right. The earth is given as a common stock for man to labor and live on.... The small landowners are the most precious part of a state.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)
“Somehow we have been taught to believe that the experiences of girls and women are not important in the study and understanding of human behavior. If we know men, then we know all of humankind. These prevalent cultural attitudes totally deny the uniqueness of the female experience, limiting the development of girls and women and depriving a needy world of the gifts, talents, and resources our daughters have to offer.”
—Jeanne Elium (20th century)
“Linnæus, setting out for Lapland, surveys his “comb” and “spare shirt,” “leathern breeches” and “gauze cap to keep off gnats,” with as much complacency as Bonaparte a park of artillery for the Russian campaign. The quiet bravery of the man is admirable.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)