Rolling hills in Western Maryland...the jagged coastline of the Eastern Shore...Montgomery County's agricultural reserve...historic sites in Central Maryland—this beautiful state is home to many incredible places that are important to our environment, our heritage and our quality of life.
Unfortunately, development threatens many of our most important natural areas. From Terrapin Run in Allegany County to Snow Hill in Worcester County, our farms, forests and fields are becoming housing developments and strip malls, paving over our natural heritage and polluting the Chesapeake Bay.
Maryland is nationally known for preserving half a million acres and creating 4,000 parks through Program Open Space. The state collects money through the real estate transfer tax to fund the program, which permanently protects valuable natural areas.
In recent years, however, much of the money collected in the name of land conservation has been used for other purposes. From 2003-2005, $400 million was diverted from the program. Those funds could have saved more than 100,000 acres.
Collecting money for one purpose and using it for another is dishonest. And, when conservation funding is gutted, we lose places like the 668-acre Sycamore Hill Farm in Cecil County, which a developer has proposed to buy for a sprawling subdivision. Farmland across the state is being lost at an alarming rate.
Gov. O'Malley made a firm pledge during the campaign in 2006 that he
would not raid land preservation funding, and he has worked hard to
uphold that pledge.
