Protecting our natural heritage

This beautiful state is home to many incredible places that are important to our environment, our heritage and our quality of life; rolling hills in Western Maryland, the jagged coastline of the Eastern Shore, Montgomery County’s agricultural reserve and historic sites in Central Maryland.

Preserving our land is especially needed to protect our waterways. Wetlands along the Chesapeake Bay, coastal habitat by the Assawoman Bay in Worcester County and forest habitat near the Prettyboy Reservoir in Baltimore County help keep our waterways pure.

Unfortunately, many of these places are at risk from development. Our meadows and farms are becoming strip malls and parking lots, while the bay and other natural treasures suffer the collateral damage.

We are simply not developing wisely.

Between 1990 and 2000, the population in the Chesapeake Bay watershed climbed 8 percent while the amount of developed land jumped 41 percent.

Time for action

Environment Maryland has engaged in a major campaign to protect Maryland’s natural heritage. With the state population projected to grow by one million people over the next twenty years, and a large influx of people coming in the next five years due to military base expansion, it has never been more important to fix our growth management laws.

Environment Maryland has circulated a smart growth platform to guide policy development on this issue. Dozens of legislators have endorsed the platform.

This summer, Environment Maryland field staff spoke with 30,000 households and collected 12,000 petition signatures.

Terrapin Run

The proposed Terrapin Run development in Allegany County provides a clear example of how the development process has gone wrong.

The county growth plan designates the area between the Green Ridge State Forest and the Billmeyer Wildlife Management Area as open space, to be permanently protected from development.  It includes a stream called Terrapin Run, a scenic trout stream that drains into the Potomac River.  

However, PDC, Inc., a development company from Columbia, Maryland, proposed building a 4,300-unit subdivision in this area. They plan to call the subdivision “Terrapin Run,” after the stream where they plan to dump up to a million gallons a day from their sewage treatment plant.  

Despite being in conflict with the local growth plan, county commissioners approved the proposal. Local residents challenged that decision in court, but lost.

Court of Appeals Judge Dale Cathell ruled that county growth plans are merely guides that do not hold the weight of law.