{"id":41429,"date":"2024-05-01T14:00:26","date_gmt":"2024-05-01T18:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/?p=41429"},"modified":"2024-05-01T14:26:43","modified_gmt":"2024-05-01T18:26:43","slug":"board-of-public-works-approves-12-9-million-for-recreation-and-land-preservation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/2024\/05\/01\/board-of-public-works-approves-12-9-million-for-recreation-and-land-preservation\/","title":{"rendered":"Board of Public Works Approves $12.9 Million for Recreation and Land Preservation"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Funding includes recreational facilities in Anne Arundel, Montgomery counties<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 438px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/8418\/30318550282_92a2ec5420.jpg\" alt=\"Photo of farmland next to a river\" width=\"428\" height=\"323\" \/><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Nanticoke Rural Legacy Area in Dorchester County, Maryland Department of Natural Resources photo.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Board of Public Works today approved Maryland Department of Natural Resources items including more than $12.9 million in grants to local governments and land trusts to preserve and protect land, and provide recreational opportunities for Marylanders.<\/span><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/dnr.maryland.gov\/land\/pages\/programopenspace\/home.aspx\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Program Open Space \u2013 Local<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0 provides funding for county and municipal governments for the planning, purchase and development of recreational land or facilities. A total of $11.98 million in Program Open Space &#8211; Local was approved for 8 projects, including a $5.4 million grant for the acquisition of 5.4 acres for a future indoor and outdoor recreation complex. The facility, located in Anne Arundel County, will be named the Edgewater Community Park &#8211; Lee Family Community Center.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cProgram Open Space continues to leverage state money with local support for recreation facilities in our communities,\u201d said Hilary Bell, director of land acquisition and planning for the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. \u201cThese projects in turn provide Marylanders with proven health benefits for citizens, protection of open space from development, and investment in our local economies.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Additional approvals include:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">$800,000 from the Local Parks and Playgrounds Infrastructure Program for renovations to Rosemary Hills &#8211; Lyttonsville Local Park in Montgomery County.\u00a0 The Local Parks and Playgrounds Infrastructure Program was funded in FY 2022 and FY 2023 to provide grant funds primarily to local governments for park and recreation projects.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> \u00a0 <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">More than $140,000 in<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/dnr.maryland.gov\/land\/Pages\/RuralLegacy\/home.aspx\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rural Legacy<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> funding was granted to The Conservation Fund for a conservation easement on 47 acres in the Nanticoke Rural Legacy Area in Dorchester County, thereby permanently protecting prime agricultural land which is part of a large block of working lands in the Nanticoke River watershed. The Rural Legacy Program, created in 1997, conserves large working landscapes across 35 locally designated areas throughout Maryland.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">All projects funded are listed in the<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/bpw.maryland.gov\/MeetingDocs\/2024-May-1-Agenda.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> <span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Board of Public Works May 1 meeting agenda<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. The three-member Board of Public Works is composed of Governor Wes Moore, Treasurer Dereck E. Davis and Comptroller Brooke E. Lierman.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Established under the Department of Natural Resources in 1969, Program Open Space (divided into Local and Stateside programs), along with other state land conservation programs, symbolizes Maryland\u2019s long-term commitment to conserving our natural resources while providing exceptional outdoor recreation opportunities for all citizens.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Funding includes recreational facilities in Anne Arundel, Montgomery counties The Board of Public Works today approved Maryland Department of Natural Resources items including more than $12.9 million in grants to local governments and land trusts to preserve and protect land, and provide recreational opportunities for Marylanders.<\/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":[957,23],"tags":[2971,2955,2922,2907,5000,3003,3123],"class_list":["post-41429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-appnews","category-land","tag-anne-arundel-county","tag-board-of-public-works","tag-dorchester-county","tag-montgomery-county","tag-outdoor-recreation","tag-program-open-space","tag-rural-legacy-program"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41429","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=41429"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41429\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41430,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41429\/revisions\/41430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}