{"id":42940,"date":"2024-10-16T11:43:42","date_gmt":"2024-10-16T15:43:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/?p=42940"},"modified":"2024-10-16T13:13:30","modified_gmt":"2024-10-16T17:13:30","slug":"board-of-public-works-approves-nearly-2-9-million-for-park-improvements-and-land-conservation-in-anne-arundel-st-marys-and-elsewhere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/2024\/10\/16\/board-of-public-works-approves-nearly-2-9-million-for-park-improvements-and-land-conservation-in-anne-arundel-st-marys-and-elsewhere\/","title":{"rendered":"Board of Public Works Approves Nearly $2.9 Million for Park Improvements and Land Conservation in Anne Arundel, St. Mary\u2019s, and Elsewhere"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Funding from DNR\u2019s Program Open Space Local and Rural Legacy programs will support new Edgewater Recreation Center and conservation easements in Southern Maryland<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 362px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/5471\/29815084083_c7a1056704.jpg\" alt=\"Photo of wooded trail\" width=\"352\" height=\"266\" \/><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Located on the northern end of St. Mary\u2019s County, the Huntersville Rural Legacy Area includes 12 miles of Patuxent River shoreline. 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 totaling about $2.9 million in grants to local governments and land trusts to improve parks and protect land with perpetual conservation easements.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Nearly $2.3 million in\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/dnr.maryland.gov\/land\/pages\/programopenspace\/home.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Program Open Space \u2013 Local<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0funds were approved for six projects including a grant to Anne Arundel County for the development of the new Edgewater Recreation Center. The county will use the funds to renovate an existing building to provide indoor recreational opportunities such as fitness classes, basketball courts, pickleball courts, and an indoor playground. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/dnr.maryland.gov\/land\/pages\/programopenspace\/home.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Program Open Space \u2013 Local<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0provides funding for county and municipal governments for the planning, acquisition, and development of recreational land or facilities.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Nearly $600,000 in\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/dnr.maryland.gov\/land\/Pages\/RuralLegacy\/home.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rural Legacy<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0funding was approved for local sponsors to acquire conservation easements on two St. Mary\u2019s County properties totaling 249 acres:<\/span><!--more--><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Southern Maryland Resource Conservation and Development Board will preserve a 145-acre property in the<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/dnr.maryland.gov\/land\/Documents\/RuralLegacy\/Mattapany_rla.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> Mattapany Rural Legacy Area<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. The tract consists of valuable agricultural and forested land as well as 3,800 feet of <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">riparian stre<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">am buffers along Carthagena Creek and tributaries to St. George\u2019s Creek, all of which flow to the Potomac River<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> The easement is also funded by the U.S. Department of the Navy and St. Mary\u2019s County, to maintain the rural character of the lands below the restricted air space designated for the Patuxent River Naval Air Station and Webster Outlying Field.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In the<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/dnr.maryland.gov\/land\/Documents\/RuralLegacy\/Huntersvillerla.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Huntersville Rural Legacy Area<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">, the Patuxent Tidewater Land Trust will preserve a 104-ac<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">re farm. The easement will protect 5,500 feet of forested stream buffers along tributaries to the Locks Swamp Creek in the Trent Hall Creek watershed, and Persimmon Creek, before their confluence offsite with the Patuxent River. Additionally, the easement will also protect habitat for forest interior dwelling species of birds that need large blocks of undisturbed forest in order for the birds to successfully nest.<\/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-Oct-16-Agenda.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Board of Public Works October 16, 2024 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\">The Rural Legacy Program, created in 1997, conserves large working landscapes across 36 locally designated areas throughout Maryland.\u00a0<\/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 from DNR\u2019s Program Open Space Local and Rural Legacy programs will support new Edgewater Recreation Center and conservation easements in Southern Maryland The Board of Public Works today approved Maryland Department of Natural Resources items totaling about $2.9 million in grants to local governments and land trusts to improve parks and protect land with<a href=\"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/2024\/10\/16\/board-of-public-works-approves-nearly-2-9-million-for-park-improvements-and-land-conservation-in-anne-arundel-st-marys-and-elsewhere\/\">&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":[957,23],"tags":[2971,2955,3003,3123,2942],"class_list":["post-42940","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-appnews","category-land","tag-anne-arundel-county","tag-board-of-public-works","tag-program-open-space","tag-rural-legacy-program","tag-st-marys-county"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42940","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=42940"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42940\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42946,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42940\/revisions\/42946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}