NEWS
September 10, 2009
Release of proposals for bay cleanup is delayed a day The promised public release Wednesday of new federal proposals for jump-starting the lagging Chesapeake Bay restoration was delayed by a day and is now planned Thursday, officials said. The state and federal bay "partnership" had announced that it would release a series of draft reports outlining proposals for accelerating the pace of cleaning up the Chesapeake and safeguarding its fish and wildlife Wednesday. But late in the morning, Jim Edwards, deputy director of EPA's bay program office, said the documents were still being finalized, particularly one report that focuses on restoring and maintaining the bay's "living resources," including bay grasses, oysters, crabs, fish and other wildlife.
NEWS
March 22, 2009
Events scheduled at Patuxent center The Friends of Patuxent will present the 20th annual Patuxent Wildlife Art Show and Sale from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. March 29 at the recently reopened National Wildlife Visitor Center, 10901 Scarlet Tanager Loop, Laurel. An artists' reception, with hors d'oeuvres, live music and a silent auction fundraiser, will be held from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Friday. Tickets are $40 in advance; $45 at the door. Information or to order tickets: 301-497-5789 or www.friendspwrc.
NEWS
September 28, 2007
Birds -- Artist Ernie Muehlmatt is showing his life-size and miniature wooden sculptures of birds (one of which is shown above) at Patuxent Research Refuge's John Hollingsworth Art Gallery in the National Wildlife Visitor Center until early next month. During a 25-year career, he has made more than 6,000 carvings of songbirds, wildfowl and birds of prey. Showing with him is sculptor and painter John Neal Mullican, a featured sculptor/carver at the Chesapeake Wildlife Art Expo, Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge and other venues.
NEWS
By Chris Guy | February 24, 2007
BLACKWATER NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE -- This splendid stretch of mucky marshland along the Blackwater River is Ted Abbott's winter domain, a remote sanctuary that never fails to deliver a dose of frigid solitude that is his idea of a vacation. Abbott, a muskrat trapper for most of his 67 years, revels in the stillness he shares with his prey - an unseen army of furry nocturnal rodents that paw through a maze of flooded tunnels, pausing to raise their heads to breathe amid Blackwater's brackish rivulets.
NEWS
By Tom Pelton and Chris Guy | November 7, 2006
Cambridge -- The Ehrlich administration announced yesterday that it plans to spend $10.4 million to preserve about two-thirds of a contested development site near the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge. The effort to save 754 acres of Eastern Shore farmland marks a change in direction for the administration, which previously declined to get involved in what it called a mostly local land-use decision. The purchase agreement will still allow developer Duane Zentgraf to build more than 600 homes, marketed to senior citizens, on 326 acres of farmland on the southern fringe of this city.
NEWS
By Tom Pelton | October 5, 2006
A state commission voted yesterday to block a proposed $1 billion golf resort near the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, handing a surprise victory to environmentalists who feared the huge project would clutter one of the Chesapeake region's most beautiful landscapes. The state Critical Area Commission, which reviews construction in waterfront areas, said the developer cannot build a conference center, hotel and retail complex on 313 acres of farms and wetlands next to the Little Blackwater River.
NEWS
By Tom Pelton | October 4, 2006
As a state commission considers voting today on whether to allow a 2,700-home golf resort near Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge, it must weigh whether state law prohibits such intense development in an area surrounded by protected wetlands and farms. But even as debate over the $1 billion Blackwater Resort continues, Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. - whose administration had called approval of the project a mostly local decision - is studying requests to preserve some of the land with state money, an aide said yesterday.
NEWS
By CHRIS GUY AND TOM PELTON | August 22, 2006
CAMBRIDGE -- Plans for a billion-dollar golf resort community that has drawn protests from environmentalists won approval yesterday evening from the Cambridge City Council. The 2,700-home Blackwater Resort project - which opponents view as sprawl that would endanger the nearby Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge - now must receive approval from a state commission appointed by Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. that reviews construction within 1,000 feet of Chesapeake Bay tributaries. Supporters hope the construction on top of wetlands and farm fields will bring thousands of new residents - and millions in tax dollars - to a city of about 11,000 that has lost population since the 1960s.
NEWS
By JENNIFER SKALKA AND TOM PELTON | March 25, 2006
The Maryland Senate killed a bill yesterday that sought to limit development near the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge on the Eastern Shore, handing a victory to advocates of growth and local control. Sen. James Brochin, the Baltimore County Democrat who sponsored the legislation, attributed the defeat to an influx of lobbyists working for the developer who wants to build a $1 billion resort community near the refuge. But even Democratic leaders -- Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller and Sen. Nathaniel J. McFadden of Baltimore -- voted against the bill, which would have barred construction on about a third of the 1,080-acre site in an environmentally sensitive area along Little Blackwater River.
NEWS
By TOM PELTON | February 28, 2006
Local officials have told the developer of a proposed resort and conference center near the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge to modify his plans, a move that is expected to delay the project for several months. The Cambridge City Council had been scheduled to vote on the final plan for the 3,200-home subdivision last night. But the vote has been put off while the developer, Duane E.E. Zentgraf, prepares a redesign that moves about 180 homes so they are at least 1,000 feet from the Little Blackwater River, said Anne Roane, city planner.