By Timothy B. Wheeler , tim.wheeler@baltsun.com|December 04, 2008
In a move hailed by conservation leaders, Gov. Martin O'Malley announced plans yesterday to buy five large tracts of forest, farmland and waterfront for more than $71 million to preserve them from development and enhance public access to the Chesapeake Bay.
The governor disclosed the deals to acquire more than 9,200 acres in Cecil, Charles, St. Mary's and Worcester counties as he unveiled a new computerized map of Maryland's environmentally valuable lands, which he said would become the centerpiece of the state's conservation efforts.
"GreenPrint," as the interactive map is called, will "help us make choices about our open space," he said.
The five properties in line to be purchased have some of the richest bird and wildlife habitat in Maryland and more than 19 miles of shoreline along the Potomac River, officials said. One tract, 4,800 acres in Worcester County, is the largest privately owned forest in the state, according to Nat Williams, Maryland director of the Nature Conservancy, which helped negotiate the deal.
Four other tracts of woodlands, fields and wetlands in Cecil, Charles and St. Mary's counties have been owned since the early 1600s by the Roman Catholic Jesuit order. Their purchase was arranged with the help of the Conservation Fund, another national land preservation group. The fund's Pat Noonan said the land deals represent "a once and forever opportunity."
If approved by the Board of Public Works, the five tracts would double the amount of land acquired by the state for preservation since O'Malley took office nearly two years ago. He campaigned on a pledge to revive the state's land conservation efforts.
In announcing the deals, O'Malley acknowledged that the state and nation are struggling economically, and news leaked yesterday that he had decided to furlough state employees to close a budget gap. But O'Malley said it was important to seize opportunities like this.
Natural Resources Secretary John R. Griffin noted that the funds for the land come mainly from taxes paid on property sales that are earmarked by law for open-space preservation. About $5 million of the purchase will be financed with federal transportation funds, he said.
Some recent land preservation deals have proven controversial, with critics saying the state had agreed to pay more than the property was worth. Griffin said the prices for the five properties were based on independent real estate appraisals. The Worcester tract is going for about $3,000 per acre, while the four Jesuit properties - three of them with waterfront - would cost about $12,000 per acre.
