[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 18]
[House]
[Page 24326]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              DISCOVERY OF GLOBALLY RARE PLANT COMMUNITIES

  (Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. CONNOLLY of Virginia. I rise to congratulate the Prince William 
Conservation Alliance, the Prince William Wildflower Society, and the 
Prince William County Park Authority for their discovery of globally 
rare plant communities at Silver Lake Park. The Virginia Department of 
Conservation and Recreation confirmed that the diabase flatwoods and a 
pin oak-white oak upland depression swamp qualify as globally rare or 
threatened species.
  Diabase flatwoods are a rare type of oak-hickory forest that are only 
found in northern Virginia and central Maryland. It's very rare to find 
a site such as this, which has not been substantially disturbed by land 
development or incursion of invasive species.
  The rare pin oak-white oak upland depression swamp habitat is 
characterized by small wetlands with hardwood forests. These 
environments have often been disturbed by past development.
  I applaud local activists in Prince William County in my district, 
the 11th District of Virginia, for their work to protect these rare 
plant communities and offer them my full support and congratulations in 
permanently preserving these important ecological resources.

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