The Capital - 3-21-07
(this land is at the headwaters of South River!)
By ERIN COX Staff Writer
Steep, untouched and wooded slopes beside Interstate 97 in Crownsville are expected to become a county nature preserve today.
The Maryland Board of Public Works plans to sell the 546 forested acres formerly owned by the Crownsville Hospital Center to the county for $1 - and a promise never to develop it.
"The county needs to be in control of its own destiny," County Executive John R. Leopold said. "It's far too valuable a property to not be in control over there."
For years, environmentalists eyed the forest across the highway from the defunct state mental hospital in hopes of creating a conservation easement. The swath expected to be transferred to the county today is slated to become a large park governed by conservation rules that allow only "passive" recreation and possibly hunting.
"This is a major victory," Crownsville resident Donald Yeskey said. "I'm very pleased it's finally in the hands of someone who wants to preserve it."
Five years ago, the Scenic Rivers Land Trust and other agencies tried to negotiate a land transfer, afraid that the property, valued in the millions, would be sold to developers. The land surrounds the headwaters of the South River, and environmentalists feared that any development on the land or wetlands would have disastrous effects downstream.
"It's a big first step," South Riverkeeper Drew Koslow said.
Environmentalists were interested in the forest that lines the west side of the interstate years before the state mental hospital on the east side closed in 2004. The Maryland Environmental Trust temporarily owned the property while the state decided what to do with it.
At the urging of Mr. Leopold and Del. James King, R-Gambrills, the state agreed to let the county turn it into a park.
"This is such a unique piece of land that is sitting there, and I didn't want it to be developed," Mr. King said. "The long-term goal is to get the process going to get the entire property."
The asbestos-ridden buildings on the opposite side of the highway still belong to the state. Mr. Leopold and Mr. King want that land also transferred to the county. Although they said they didn't have specific plans for the property, both said having control of the land would help the county "control its destiny."
For Dr. Cliff Andrew, president of the Scenic Rivers Land Trust, gaining the forest is victory enough.
"It's very rare that we get a natural, undeveloped parcel in the middle of suburban Maryland," he said.
Conservationists hope acquiring the Crownsville land will advance their long-term goal to preserve what they call "the Green Cathedral" of undeveloped land between Annapolis, Crownsville and the Navy's dairy farm in Gambrills.
Also today, the state was expected to swap 42 acres in Jug Bay for $89,300 in federal open space funds the county had been granted. That land will be used as buffer to protect an existing 610-acre Jug Bay preserve and wetlands owned by the county.
Plans include making a route to a fishing pier that's now accessible only by tramping through wetlands.
"It's a big environmental day for Anne Arundel County," county lobbyist Alan Friedman said.
Published March 21, 2007, The Capital, Annapolis, Md.
Copyright © 2007 The Capital, Annapolis, Md.
