This weekend, though, volunteers are finding out that the land actually is home to eastern red cedars, Virginia pines, purple lovegrass, blue-spotted sunfish and another fish, the rosyside dace.

By the time the weekend is over, dozens of volunteers will have documented hundreds of species of flora and fauna on the environmentally-sensitive property.

"It's really an amazing chunk of property," said Karyn Molines of the county's Department of Recreation and Parks and one of the organizers of the weekend "bio-blitz."

The goal is to get a better understanding of just what plants and animals live on the greenway property. That way, the lands can be better managed.

During the bio-blitz, volunteers joined up with experts on topics such as plants, amphibians, birds, fish, insects and butterflies. They set out to explore sections of the greenway and tally the species they saw.

Christiana Logansmith of Epping Forest and her 13-year-old son, Jack, joined the fish group Saturday.

The Logansmiths thought the bio-blitz was a good opportunity to explore the normally off-limits property and learn new things about nature.

Christiana said it's neat to have "something like this in our own backyard."

Biologists Cory Lavoie and Derek Rodgers of the Annapolis environmental consulting firm Coastal Resources led the fish volunteers in sampling two sites.

At the second site, Rodgers donned a backpack-like electrofishing device. He put a wand with a mild electrical current into the water to temporarily stun the fish so the Logansmiths and other volunteers could scoop them up in nets.

When it came time to identify all the fish, Lavoie and Rodgers made a point to explain the characteristics that make the different species stand out. They also highlighted nonnative species they found, such as the virile crayfish.

Saturday's plant group also found nonnatives: English ivy, Russian olive and Oriental bittersweet.

Molines led the plant group and gave pointers on identification. For example, for grass-like plants, sedges have edges, rushes are round and true grasses have joints.

Bill and Mary Mason came up from Herndon, Va., to see the greenway for the first time.

Bill, who took photos of many of the plants, said: "This is a great opportunity to walk around with people who know what they're talking about."

The South River Greenway is actually made up of many properties in the headwaters of the South River in Crownsville.

The largest chunk of the greenway is known as the Bacon Ridge Branch Natural Area. The 547-acre tract that sits west of Interstate 97 was part of the old Crownsville Hospital Center.

The county government is about to formally take ownership of the hospital property. Monday night, the County Council will begin considering a bill to accept the property from the state government.

The deal includes putting a conservation easement on the land, which protects it from development and spells out how it will be used.

The Scenic Rivers Land Trust and the Maryland Environmental Trust will hold the conservation easement.

The plan is to keep the property for "passive" recreation, such as birdwatching or hiking. There likely won't be any ballfields or giant parking lots, although the county has a committee that's hashing out ideas.

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