Northwest Branch Anacostia River is a 21.5 miles (34.6 km) free-flowing stream

Stream

A stream is a body of water with a current, confined within a bed and stream banks. Depending on its locale or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to as a branch, brook, beck, burn, creek, "crick", gill , kill, lick, rill, river, syke, bayou, rivulet, streamage, wash, run or...

 in Montgomery County

Montgomery County, Maryland

Montgomery County is a county in the U.S. state of Maryland, situated just to the north of Washington, D.C., and southwest of the city of Baltimore. It is one of the most affluent counties in the United States, and has the highest percentage of residents over 25 years of age who hold post-graduate...

 and Prince George's County

Prince George's County, Maryland

Prince George's County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maryland, immediately north, east, and south of Washington, DC. As of 2010, it has a population of 863,420 and is the wealthiest African-American majority county in the nation....

, Maryland

Maryland

Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...

. It is a tributary

Tributary

A tributary or affluent is a stream or river that flows into a main stem river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean...

 of the Anacostia River

Anacostia River

The Anacostia River is a river in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States. It flows from Prince George's County in Maryland into Washington, D.C., where it joins with the Washington Channel to empty into the Potomac River at Buzzard Point. It is approximately long...

, which flows to the Potomac River

Potomac River

The Potomac River flows into the Chesapeake Bay, located along the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States. The river is approximately long, with a drainage area of about 14,700 square miles...

 and the Chesapeake Bay

Chesapeake Bay

The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the United States. It lies off the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by Maryland and Virginia. The Chesapeake Bay's drainage basin covers in the District of Columbia and parts of six states: New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and West...

.

Course

The headwaters of the Northwest Branch are located near the community of Sandy Spring

Sandy Spring, Maryland

Sandy Spring, Maryland is an unincorporated community in Montgomery County, Maryland.The community was founded by Quakers who arrived in the early 18th century searching for land where they could grow tobacco and corn. One of the very early land owners in the Sandy Spring area was Richard Snowden,...

. The stream flows southward for 21.5 miles (34.6 km) to its confluence

Confluence

Confluence, in geography, describes the meeting of two or more bodies of water.Confluence may also refer to:* Confluence , a property of term rewriting systems...

 with the Northeast Branch

Northeast Branch Anacostia River

Northeast Branch Anacostia River is a free-flowing stream in Prince George's County, Maryland. It is a tributary of the Anacostia River, which flows to the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay.-Course:...

 near Bladensburg

Bladensburg, Maryland

Bladensburg is a town in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. The population was 7,661 at the 2000 census.Bladensburg is from central Washington, DC...

 to form the main stem

Main Stem

"Main Stem" is 1942 instrumental by Duke Ellington and His Famous Orchestra. Although recorded in 1942, the single would not be released until 1944 where it was Duke Ellington's last of four number one's on the Harlem Hit Parade. "Main Stem" would also peak at number twenty on the pop chart"Main...

 of the Anacostia.

Watershed

The watershed

Drainage basin

A drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean...

 in Montgomery County includes portions of the communities of Norwood, Bel Pre Manor, Colesville

Colesville, Maryland

Colesville is a census-designated place and an unincorporated area in Montgomery County, Maryland in the USA.-Geography:As an unincorporated area, Colesville's boundaries are not officially defined. Also, many residents consider the town to be one of the many neighborhoods of Silver Spring, Maryland...

, Layhill, Glenmont

Glenmont, Maryland

Glenmont is an unincorporated community in Montgomery County, Maryland, USA. The U.S. Census Bureau combines Glenmont with nearby Wheaton to create the Census Designated Place of Wheaton-Glenmont.- Location :...

, Wheaton

Wheaton, Maryland

Wheaton is an unincorporated, urbanized area in Montgomery County, Maryland, USA, north of Washington, D.C., northwest of Silver Spring. Wheaton takes its name from Frank Wheaton , a career officer in the United States Army and volunteer from Rhode Island in the Union Army who rose to the rank of...

, Hillandale

Hillandale, Maryland

Hillandale is an unincorporated area located on the boundary between Montgomery and Prince George's Counties, Maryland.-Geography:As an unincorporated area, Hillandale's boundaries are not officially defined...

, White Oak

White Oak, Maryland

White Oak is a census-designated place and an unincorporated area in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States.-Geography:As an unincorporated area, White Oak's boundaries are not officially defined...

, Silver Spring

Silver Spring, Maryland

Silver Spring is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. It had a population of 71,452 at the 2010 census, making it the fourth most populous place in Maryland, after Baltimore, Columbia, and Germantown.The urbanized, oldest, and...

, Kemp Mill

Kemp Mill, Maryland

Kemp Mill is a census-designated place and an unincorporated census area in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. The population was 9,956 at the 2000 census....

, Four Corners and Takoma Park

Takoma Park, Maryland

Takoma Park is a city in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. It is a suburb of Washington, D.C., and part of the Washington Metropolitan Area. Founded in 1883 and incorporated in 1890, Takoma Park, informally called "Azalea City," is a Tree City USA and a nuclear-free zone...

. The Prince George's County portion of the watershed includes Langley Park

Langley Park, Maryland

Langley Park is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in the Washington, D.C. metro area. It is located inside the Capital Beltway, on the northwest edge of Prince George's County, Maryland, bordering Montgomery County, Maryland....

, University Park

University Park, Maryland

University Park is a town in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. The population was 2,318 at the 2000 census.-Geography:University Park is located at ....

, Chillum

Chillum, Maryland

Chillum is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. The population was 34,252 at the 2000 census...

, Hyattsville

Hyattsville, Maryland

Hyattsville is a city in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. The population was 17,557 at the 2000 census.- History :The city was named for its founder, Christopher Clark Hyatt. He purchased his first parcel of land in the area in March 1845...

, Avondale

Avondale, Maryland

Avondale is an unincorporated community in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. For statistical purposes, it is part of the Chillum census-designated place .-History:...

 and Brentwood

Brentwood, Maryland

Brentwood is a town in Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. The population was 2,844 at the 2000 census. Brentwood is less than away from Washington, DC...

. The total watershed area, including a small portion of land in Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

, is 53.5 square miles (138.6 km²), with a resident population of about 254,000.

The middle section of the Northwest Branch is referred to as the Rachel Carson Environmental Area

Rachel Carson Greenway

The Rachel Carson Greenway is a planned 25-mile stretch of trails, spanning from the historic Adelphi Mill in Prince George's County north through eastern Montgomery County, Maryland to Patuxent River State Park, and incorporating existing Northwest Branch trails. The greenway was proposed as part...

. It flows through a small gorge underneath the Capital Beltway

Interstate 495 (Capital Beltway)

Interstate 495 is a Interstate Highway that surrounds the United States' capital of Washington, D.C., and its inner suburbs in adjacent Maryland and Virginia. I-495 is widely known as the Capital Beltway or simply the Beltway, especially when the context of Washington, D.C., is clear...

 between Colesville Road and Adelphi Mill

Adelphi Mill

The Adelphi Mill, is the only surviving historic mill in Prince George's County. It is the oldest and largest mill in the Washington D.C. area.-History:...

. Located at the north end of the Northwest Branch Trail, near the home of noted environmental author Rachel Carson

Rachel Carson

Rachel Louise Carson was an American marine biologist and conservationist whose writings are credited with advancing the global environmental movement....

, it is deliberately left rustic and unimproved.

The majority of the Northwest Branch stream valley is a riparian buffer

Riparian buffer

A riparian buffer is a vegetated area near a stream, usually forested, which helps shade and partially protect a stream from the impact of adjacent land uses...

, protected as parkland by the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission

Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission

The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission is a bi-county agency that administers parks and planning in Montgomery and Prince George's Counties in Maryland.-History:...

 (M-NCPPC). The Rachel Carson Greenway planned by M-NCPPC will extend the Northwest Branch Trail into northern Montgomery County as an unimproved hiking trail, connecting to the Anacostia Tributary Trail System

Anacostia Tributary Trails

The Anacostia Tributary Trail System is a unified and signed system of stream valley trails joining the Northwest Branch, Northeast Branch, Indian Creek and Paint Branch stream valley parks, set aside and maintained by the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission in the northeastern...

 in Prince Georges County.

Geology

Northwest Branch crosses the geological fall line

Fall line

A fall line is a geomorphologic unconformity between an upland region of relatively hard crystalline basement rock and a coastal plain of softer sedimentary rock. A fall line is typically prominent when crossed by a river, for there will often be rapids or waterfalls...

 between the piedmont

Piedmont (United States)

The Piedmont is a plateau region located in the eastern United States between the Atlantic Coastal Plain and the main Appalachian Mountains, stretching from New Jersey in the north to central Alabama in the south. The Piedmont province is a physiographic province of the larger Appalachian division...

 and Atlantic coastal plain

Atlantic Coastal Plain

The Atlantic coastal plain has both low elevation and low relief, but it is also a relatively flat landform extending from the New York Bight southward to a Georgia/Florida section of the Eastern Continental Divide, which demarcates the plain from the ACF River Basin in the Gulf Coastal Plain to...

 regions, which forms a small waterfall

Waterfall

A waterfall is a place where flowing water rapidly drops in elevation as it flows over a steep region or a cliff.-Formation:Waterfalls are commonly formed when a river is young. At these times the channel is often narrow and deep. When the river courses over resistant bedrock, erosion happens...

 on the stream near White Oak.

Tributaries

The total stream channel length of Northwest Branch and all tributaries is 75 miles (120.7 km).

• Bachelors Forest Tributary
• Bel Pre Creek
• Bryants Nursery Tributary
• Lamberton Drive Tributary
• Lockridge Drive Tributary
• Longmeade Tributary
• Old Orchard Tributary
• Rolling Stone Tributary
• Sandy Spring Tributary
• Sligo Creek
  Sligo Creek
  Sligo Creek is a free-flowing tributary of the Northwest Branch of the Anacostia River in Maryland. The creek is approximately long, with a drainage area of about .- Geography :The creek rises in the Kemp Mill section of Silver Spring in Montgomery County and...
  
  
• Wheaton Park Tributary

External links

• Neighbors of the Northwest Branch
• Anacostia Watershed Society - Detailed maps and photos of stream conditions
• Anacostia Watershed Restoration Partnership
• Northwest Branch Trail - Montgomery County Dept. of Parks
• Wheaton Regional Park - Montgomery County Dept. of Parks
• Anacostia Tributary Trail System - Prince George's County Dept. of Parks & Recreation