{"id":37905,"date":"2022-12-05T09:45:13","date_gmt":"2022-12-05T14:45:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/?p=37905"},"modified":"2022-12-05T09:22:09","modified_gmt":"2022-12-05T14:22:09","slug":"secretarys-message-december-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/2022\/12\/05\/secretarys-message-december-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"Secretary\u2019s Message \u2013 December 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ring Out the Old, Ring in the New with Outdoor Traditions<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 386px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/52535937539_6dc9171f08.jpg\" alt=\"Photo of several people walking along a wooded trail\" width=\"376\" height=\"251\" \/><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hiking at Sideling Hill State Park, photo by Patrick Siebert, Maryland State House<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Maryland State Parks will again mark the new year by offering hike opportunities from December 30, 2022 through January 2, 2023. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/dnr.maryland.gov\/publiclands\/Pages\/firstdayhikes.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">First Day Hikes<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> are part of a nationwide initiative led by America\u2019s State Parks that encourages all 50 states to offer outdoor hiking opportunities to start the new year. They are a great way to start the new year!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">And we continue to expand Maryland\u2019s network of public lands. Last month, Lt. Governor Boyd K. Rutherford joined us to announce the opening of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/dnr.maryland.gov\/publiclands\/Pages\/western\/Sideling-Hill-Creek.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Sideling Hill Creek State Park<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, located in Allegany County. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/governor.maryland.gov\/ltgovernor\/2022\/11\/14\/photo-release-lt-governor-rutherford-celebrates-opening-of-sideling-hill-creek-state-park\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">This new 865-acre park<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> is located near the Woodmont Natural Resources Management Area, Sideling Hill Wildlife Management Area, and the Western Maryland Rail Trail giving visitors a variety of outdoor recreation opportunities in one region.<\/span><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In addition to protecting the ecological and historic aspects of this property, Sideling Hill Creek State Park will be a tremendous destination for outdoor recreation in Western Maryland.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">As the leaves fall from the trees, and temperatures begin to cool, there are plenty of <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/dnr.maryland.gov\/publiclands\/Pages\/winter-recreation.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">cold-weather activities on our public lands<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> to keep you busy. Throughout the winter, cross country skiing, snowshoeing, and hikes on snow-covered trails are all great ways to get outdoors and stay healthy as we head into 2023.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">And finally, with the holidays around the corner, it is a popular time for Marylanders to share wonderful traditions such as passing recipes down from generation to generation. That is why we began &#8211; and continue to expand &#8211; our online cookbook for wild game and fish, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/dnr.maryland.gov\/cookbook\/Pages\/home.aspx\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Wild Maryland<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. This year we are gathering <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/2022\/11\/21\/dnr-accepting-recipes-wild-maryland-the-holiday-edition\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">new submissions for a holiday edition<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> cookbook, which will showcase the recipes of our very own hunters, anglers, and foragers. We hope you will share your recipes with us!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Thank you as always for your strong support of our mission at DNR. Happy holidays and see you outside!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/dnr.maryland.gov\/Pages\/DNR_Secretary.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><i>Jeannie Haddaway-Riccio<\/i><\/a><i>\u00a0is Secretary of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ring Out the Old, Ring in the New with Outdoor Traditions Maryland State Parks will again mark the new year by offering hike opportunities from December 30, 2022 through January 2, 2023. First Day Hikes are part of a nationwide initiative led by America\u2019s State Parks that encourages all 50 states to offer outdoor hiking<a href=\"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/2022\/12\/05\/secretarys-message-december-2022\/\">&nbsp;&nbsp;Read the Rest&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":146,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[957,3171,5336,11,1965,4998,3172,23,12,14,33,13],"tags":[5214,2914,4035,5347,5253],"class_list":["post-37905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-appnews","category-boating","category-camping","category-fisheries","category-maryland-forest-service","category-hiking","category-hunting","category-land","category-parks","category-nrp-news","category-the-bay","category-wildlife","tag-cookbook","tag-first-day-hikes","tag-jeannie-haddaway-riccio","tag-sideling-hill-creek-state-park","tag-wild-maryland"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/146"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37905"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37905\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37906,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37905\/revisions\/37906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}