Skip to content
Dierssen Waterfowl Sanctuary, Montgomery County, MD

Photo: Russ Davis, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Cropped and resized.

Sports & Outdoors

Dierssen Waterfowl Sanctuary

A 40-acre marshy woodland wildlife sanctuary on the Potomac, reached only by boat or the C&O Canal Towpath.

Montgomery County, MD

About Dierssen Waterfowl Sanctuary

Dierssen is a state-managed wildlife management area in Montgomery County, Maryland. The Dierssen family gave the tract to the state to serve as a waterfowl refuge. It sits between the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Towpath and the Potomac River, and two man-made ponds draw waterfowl, wading birds, songbirds, and furbearers. Hunting and trapping are banned here, and the property has no marked trails. Visitors who are not hunting can come for birdwatching, fishing, nature photography, hiking, or biking on established trails, and the area is reached by boat or along the towpath. Rules bar fires, camping, bait, litter, and collecting plants or animals, and dogs must be leashed from April 15 through August 15.

  • #wildlife sanctuary
  • #waterfowl
  • #birdwatching
  • #nature photography
  • #Potomac River

Printable maps

What's around here?

The closest stops to Dierssen Waterfowl Sanctuary, ordered by straight-line distance. A few more like it, plus some different kinds of fun so you can build a full day.

  • Sports & Outdoors

    Blockhouse Point Conservation Park

    Check prices

    A roughly 630-acre Montgomery Parks site on the Potomac with natural-surface trails, river views, and Civil War-era remains.

    0.3 mi awayMore like this

  • Museums
    Date Night

    Glenstone

    No admission fee

    See postwar and contemporary art in quiet pavilions and outdoor sculptures set across meadows, woods and a water garden.

    Transit: reachable by public transit

    2.7 mi awaySwitch it up: Museums

  • Sports & Outdoors

    Serpentine Barrens Conservation Park

    Check prices

    A two-unit Montgomery County park protecting rare serpentine rock barrens and their unusual plant community.

    4.0 mi awayMore like this

  • Sports & Outdoors
    Outdoor Adventure

    Great Falls Park

    Under $25

    Watch the Potomac River crash over a series of cascades from three overlooks, then hike the cliffs above Mather Gorge.

    5.0 mi awayMore like this

  • Sightseeing

    Great Falls Tavern

    No admission fee

    Historic canal lockhouse and hotel now serving as a national park visitor center.

    5.0 mi awaySwitch it up: Sightseeing

  • Shopping

    Dulles Town Center

    Check prices

    A large shopping center in Loudoun County with retail stores, dining, a movie theater, and family entertainment.

    Transit: reachable by public transit

    6.7 mi awaySwitch it up: Shopping