Help Save Our Parks and Open Space
Maryland's beautiful natural areas, farms and parks are valuable assets treasured by all citizens of Maryland. Since 1969, the state and counties have used a dedicated fund called Program Open Space to purchase, protect and maintain these special places. This fund, supported by the "transfer tax," a small fee on the sale of real estate, has helped Maryland save almost 800,000 acres of farmland and forestland from development, and has created over 4,350 parks and recreational areas. But now the funding critical to the protection of these places is threatened.

The money from POS, intended to conserve and maintain parks and open space, is being diverted to balance the state's budget. The money is being used for programs that have nothing to do with protecting these valuable lands. The result is the almost complete inability to create more parklands for our children; to prevent Maryland's valuable farmland from being developed, and to maintain vital wildlife habitat and scenic vistas.

The state must maintain these funds for their intended purpose, which is to protect the natural areas, farms and critical habitats that Marylanders so highly value and have paid for for 35 years.

The following organizations, individuals and businesses ask the Governor and the General Assembly to stop the irreplaceable loss of our open space through the misuse of Program Open Space funds:

• Maryland Recreation and Parks Association
• National Recreation and Parks Association
• American Farmland Trust
• The Conservation Fund
• League of Conservation Voters
• Chesapeake Bay Foundation
• Sierra Club
• Trust for Public Land
• Land Preservation Trust
• 1000 Friends of Maryland
• The Wilderness Society
• American Chestnut Land Trust
• Eastern Shore Land Conservancy
• Mid-Maryland Land Trust Association
• Maryland Land Trust Alliance
• The Nature Conservancy
  
  

Posted: 3-26-03

Examples of land conserved in your county
–thanks to Maryland’s land conservation programs and land trust partners:

1. Anne Arundel County - the 390-acre Looper property, also known as Eagle Hill, on the north shore of the Magothy River, was protected with federal TEA-21 funds that were matched with local Program Open Space funds for a total of $4.97 million.  The entire property is now owned by Anne Arundel County and is accessible to the public.  370 acres are protected by a conservation easement and the other 20 acres will remain active recreation with ballfields.  This protection effort was a partnership of the Trust for Public Land, Anne Arundel County, MET, Magothy River Land Trust, and the State of Maryland DOT and DNR.
   
2. Baltimore County – In January 2003 the State of Maryland approved $1.3 million in Department of Natural Resources’ Rural Legacy Funds to protect 330 acres of pristine Baltimore County agricultural and forested land.
   
   The Piney Run Rural Legacy area is composed of two easements: the Finney Property and Trenton Mills Farms. Through an easement with Redmond and Jeanette Finney, 80 acres of agricultural and 5 acres of wooded land will be protected from development. It will also place buffers and prohibit livestock on the 3,000 feet of streams that run through the property, potentially protecting water in the Baltimore Metropolitan drinking water supply. Protection of this property will also add to more than 8,000 acres of protected land in the area.
   
   Through the Trenton Mills Farms Partnership, 35 wooded acres and 200 agricultural acres will also be preserved through a conservation easement. The property is a major grain drying facility, which is essential for the agricultural economy of the area.
   
3. Caroline County – The Wright family sold conservation easements on four farms to Maryland’s Rural Legacy Program, totaling 622 acres in the Marshyhope Rural Legacy Focus Area. These properties form an important link between large blocks of already existing protected lands and are adjacent to the Idylwild Wildlife Management Area. The easements, held by Eastern Shore Land Conservancy and MET, protect over 1 mile of waterfront on Marshyhope Creek and 3800 feet of frontage on Sullivan Branch with a 100 foot wide forested buffer. The properties include over 280 acres of woodland and 290 acres of productive farmland.
   
4. Calvert County – the Calvert County Rural Legacy Program, with help from The Nature Conservancy and the American Chestnut Land Trust, purchased a conservation easement on the John Axley farm on Weems Road in Port Republic in the fall of 2002. An 11-acre portion of the Axley property on the north side of Parkers Creek will have public access in the future.
   
   This purchase was one in a cluster of four properties protected by this funding partnership, including: the 32-acre Margaret Young farm, the 66-acre Goldstein property located on Rt. 4 and Rt. 765 in Prince Frederick, and the Dorsey property, located behind Wentworth Nursery and T&T Lumber on Rt. 4. For the Dorsey property, the American Chestnut Land Trust contributed funds beyond what was available through the Rural Legacy Program to make the deal work.
   
5. Carroll County - In January of 2001, the Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation (MALPF) purchased an agricultural easement on the 200-acre Lippy Brothers Farm on Bachman's Valley Road. This farm is part of one of the largest tracts of permanently preserved agricultural area in the county -- over 27 parcels of continuous agricultural easements in outstanding soil classifications.
   
6. Cecil County - In 2002 the Cecil Land Trust settled on a Rural Legacy easement purchase of a conservation easement on Herb and Henrietta Egner’s farm near Fair Hill. While the CLT did not receive funding for the current fiscal year, they are hopeful that Rural Legacy funds will be available in the next fiscal year (FY2004) beginning July 1, 2003.
   
7. Charles County - A partnership among the Charles County Rural Legacy Program, the Mudd Society, and the Conservancy for Charles County saved the historic Mudd Farm on Doctor Samuel Mudd Road (190-acres) from development. This is the farm to which John Wilkes Booth fled after his assassination of Abraham Lincoln; it is the most-visited historic site in Charles County. After lengthy negotiations, the County ultimately purchased the farmland parcel with Rural Legacy funds in June 2002.
   
8. Kent County - Hickman and Sass Farms conserved by Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation. The Francis J. Hickman farm consists of 229 acres, with 75% of the soils considered Class II or III. It was the top ranked farm in Kent County in FY 2002 and the easement was purchased entirely with state funds (MALPF). It was settled in late December 2003or early January 2003.
   
   The Renate Sass Farm was conserved by a Rural Legacy Easement that was settled in October. The Sass family sold the development rights on three contiguous parcels and the total area is approximately 475 acres.
   
9. Montgomery County – In March 2002, 800 acres of forest habitat and rural resource lands were permanently protected for the establishment of a new county park in Boyds, Maryland.  The Hoyles Mill Conservation Park, the largest, single land preservation acquisition in Montgomery County, was purchased with $7.2 million in State of Maryland GreenPrint funds.  This land preservation project was a joint effort of the State of Maryland, the Maryland - National Capital Parks and Planning Commission, Mongomery County government, the Trust for Public Land and Michael D. Rubin.  An adjoining 886 acres will be protected with Rural Legacy funds in March 2003.
   
10. Prince George’s County – in October of 2002, the Rural Legacy program in Prince George’s County spent $2.8 million to acquire the 188-acre Sasscer Farm in the Patuxent Rural Legacy Area adjoining Patuxent River Park This means improved public access to the Patuxent River, and it extends the Patuxent Greenway.
    
11. St. Mary's County - An agricultural easement on White's Neck Farm was recently purchased by the Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation (MALPF). Below is a brief history of White's Neck Farm, owned by Philip and Jane Hayden:
    
    White's neck Farm was originally a part of historic St. Clements Manor, which was granted to Thomas Gerard by Lord Baltimore. A daughter of Thomas Gerard married a member of the Cheseldine family. White's Neck Farm has remained in the same family ever since, never having been sold.
    
    My grandfather, John D. Young, married Elizabeth B. Cheseldine, who inherited the farm from her mother, Ann R. Cheseldine. My father, Edward S. Young, got the farm from his father. My husband and I put the farm in the Agriculture Preservation program (MALPF) because we wished it to remain a farm and not be sold for development.
    
    The crops that were grown on White's Neck Farm in the past included tobacco, corn, wheat and soybeans. At present, we no longer grow tobacco. In the future we plan to continue growing soybeans, corn and wheat. At some future time there may be another crop or crops that would prove profitable to grow, but that remins to be determined. Right now, the important thing is to preserve the land as a farm.
    
    From Jane L. Hayden
    Mrs. Philip B. Hayden, Sr.
    
12. Talbot County - Rural Legacy conservation easement purchase, Gannon Family Partnership. The Gannon Family sold an easement on their 255-acre property known as the Fox Farm, located in the Tuckahoe River watershed and containing 240 acres of productive agricultural land. Further, the easement protects over 3,500 feet of scenic agricultural frontage along the Easton-Denton Road. When asked about the family’s motivation to protect the property, Greg Gannon said, “Development is some parts of Talbot is necessary for the economic well-being of the county, while other areas are best preserved to maintain the agricultural and natural resource base that is important to the region. The Fox Farm is in an area that is primarily agricultural and should probably remain so.”
    
13. Washington County - On January 8, 2003 the Maryland Board of Public Works approved $390,000 in Department of Natural Resources’ Rural Legacy funds to preserve a 183-acre easement near Antietam Battlefield in Washington County.
    
    The conservation easement will extinguish development rights and protect the inherent historic nature of the Sellers property that lies along the south side of Reno Monument Road. During the Civil War, Confederate troops, under the command of General George B. Anderson, retreated from the Foxes Gap to Dogstreet along this route. In addition, Confederates used this land for encampments after the Battle of South Mountain. Preserving the property and its forested buffers will also protect a half-mile of stream and will connect over 8,000 acres of contiguous protected land surrounding the Antietam Battlefield.
    
14. Wicomico County - Huston and Lowe Agricultural Land Preservation Easements: In 2002, the Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation purchased easements on the M. Carroll Huston and Eugene L. Lowe III properties totaling 216.47 acres for the sum of $257,400. Purchase of easements on these properties, located on both sides of White Lowe Road, will help slow the development trend in the area as well as help one of Wicomico County’s young farmers to continue in his chosen occupation.
    
    Hall Rural Legacy Easement: In 2002, Wicomico County purchased an easement on the Woodyard Limited Partnership property 687.21 acres for the sum of $623,419.40. This purchase was funded through a grant from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources Rural Legacy Program. Located in the Quantico Creek Preservation Area, this easement purchase represents Wicomico County’s continued commitment to preservation of agricultural lands and open space.
    
    
15. This creek bisects the property of Fred Joyner in the Coastal Bays Rural Legacy Area in Worcester County. A conservation easement was purchased on this 550-acre property with Rural Legacy funds in December 2000. This Chincoteague bayfront property is located south of Girdletree. The acquisition connects two previously unconnected portions of E.A. Vaughn Wildlife Management Area and is part of 5,151 acres of land preserved in the area with Rural Legacy funds from 2000 to present. Landowner Fred Joyner commented, "There is more to the County than the developed beaches and the golf courses. The Rural Legacy Program ensures that we will have our wildlife and natural landscapes to enjoy now and in the future."