Six years ahead of schedule, Maryland’s land conservation organizations have reached their goal for protecting nature from development.
Under the Maryland the Beautiful Act of 2023, the state set targets of conserving 30% of its land by 2030 and 40% by 2040. Democratic Gov. Wes Moore and other officials announced May 15 that the 30% goal had been met with a total of 1.85 million acres put under protection.
“By moving in partnership, we are meeting our goals ahead of schedule,” Moore said. “But we know there’s more left to do. I will work closely with state and local leaders to find as many opportunities as we can to add to the state’s growing portfolio of public and protected lands, so we can reach our 40% conservation goal by 2040.”
The Department of Natural Resources’ public lands represent the largest sector of protected land at 502,307 acres, or about 33% of the total. That is followed by the Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation with 361,746 acres and then privately held lands where development rights were either transferred or sold through county preservation programs with 236,590 acres.
About 95% of the state drains to the Chesapeake Bay. Just over 30% of those lands within the state’s portion of the Bay watershed have been conserved, according to an analysis by DNR.
Among the six states that drain to the Chesapeake and the District of Columbia, Maryland’s conserved lands as a percentage of total watershed acreage is highest. It is followed by Delaware (28%), Pennsylvania (26%), DC (22%), Virginia (21%), West Virginia (16%) and New York (8%).
A decade ago, the multi-state and federal partners in the Bay cleanup campaign set a goal of conserving 2 million acres of land within the watershed by 2025. Through 2022, the states and DC were 82% of the way toward achieving that target.