Mattawoman Creek

Mattawoman Creek
Freshwater-tidal estuary of Mattawoman Creek
Country	United States
State	Maryland
Counties	Charles and Prince George's counties
Basin features
River mouth	Potomac River 0 feet (0 m)
Physical characteristics
Length	30.0 miles (48.3 km)

Mattawoman Creek is a 30.0-mile-long (48.3 km)coastal-plain tributary to the tidal Potomac River with a mouth at Indian Head, Maryland, 20 miles (32 km) downstream of Washington, D.C. It comprises a 23-mile (37 km) river flowing through Prince George's and Charles counties and a 7-mile (11 km) tidal-freshwater estuary in Charles County. About three-fourths of its 94-square-mile (240 km²) watershed lies in Charles County, with the remainder in Prince George's County immediately to the north.

Mattawoman appears on Capt. John Smith's circa-1608 map as Mataughquamend, an Algonquian compound translated as “where one goes pleasantly.” Today, Mattawoman Creek is listed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as impaired under Section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act for excess nutrients, sediment, and loss of living resources. At the same time, because it is the southernmost Potomac River freshwater estuary in Maryland, Mattawoman has escaped much of the degradation associated with urbanization spreading from Washington, D.C. It retains noteworthy biodiversity.

Assessments of fish communities throughout the Chesapeake Bay system by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources find the Mattawoman estuary to be the most productive of sampled tributaries for migratory fish. Especially abundant are anadromous alewife, blueback herring and American shad and semi-anadromous white and yellow perch. The largemouth bass, a resident gamefish that supports an active recreational fishery in the tidal freshwater Potomac River and its tributaries, also achieves high concentrations in the estuary. On the basis of fish assessments, Maryland fisheries biologists have concluded that