out in nature
A Rare Place ~ Serpentine Barrens Conservation Park
By Ginny barnes
Have you ever ventured into a landscape and known it to be unique, even if you couldn’ t say why? Perhaps you have a feeling you are in another world or an alternate reality. The Serpentine Barrens Conservation Park pulls you into what looks oddly miniaturized. Yes, it is barren but it is also a forest. It sits on a geological base found on only 1 % of the Earth’ s surface. What grows there may baffle the eye used to forests elsewhere in the Piedmont. It was saved from development and acquired as parkland through the Legacy Open Space Program, a
visionary effort in the early 2000’ s to save the“ best of the best” remaining in our rapidly growing County. In this case, the primary goal was to preserve the underlying serpentine geology and the thin layer of soil supporting many unique plant species including over 20 identified rare, threatened, endangered and watchlist plant species. The park itself contains some of the highest biodiversity in the County outside the Potomac River corridor. The large blocks of contiguous forest covering most of the site are among one the most diverse. Despite harsh conditions,
the variety of flora and fauna is remarkable. Within the park, the Greenbriar Branch and its tributaries are a part of the overall protection plan. Encompassing a 341- acre complex in the upper Piney Branch watershed along Shady Grove Road, there are three units. The largest two forested North Units are bisected by a utility power line, where plants more suited to open sites are found.
There are two types of uncommon surface bedrock geology in Montgomery County: Serpentinite and Diabase. The largest of these is the 1,700-acre Diabase Sill in Boyds, part of which is now the Hoyles Mill Diabase Conservation Park and the 2,000-acre Serpentinite outcrop in Potomac. The Serpentine Barrens Conservation Park is located on top of this outcrop. Serpentinite rocks are ferro-magnesium silicates high in magnesium and iron and low in aluminum, calcium, and silica. Any land surface over serpentinite is typically stony and sparsely photo: Mark McDowell photo courtesy of Montgomery County Parks
Left: Example of typical Serpentine rock formation. Right: Cluster of golden stargrass growing in the Serpentine Barrens.
44 plenty I summer growing 2026