Park Service Director Angela Crenshaw leads Gov. Wes Moore and DNR Secretary Josh Kurtz on a preview tour of historic Long Hill plantation house at Wetipquin Creek State Park. Photo by Anthony Burrows, Maryland DNR
This has been a banner year for Maryland’s public lands. Recently, the Department of Natural completed a series of debuts in which the Maryland Park Service has dedicated, showcased, and shared progress on six new public land projects around the state.
It’s hard to overstate how significant this expansion will be for Marylanders who love the outdoors. We’re opening the first state park in Wicomico County. We’re providing new access to a legendary overlook near Cumberland. We’ve expanded yurt, cabin, and camping options for everyone by taking over a former luxury retreat in western Maryland. We’re honoring the histories of Black Marylanders who helped free our country from tyranny and slavery. And we’ll soon be welcoming residents and visitors to take in one of the most magnificent views of the Chesapeake Bay in the watershed at Holly Beach Farm.
The past four years represent an expansion of the Maryland State Park system and other public lands at a level not seen since before the 1970s. Most of the major state parks in Maryland were opened before and following the New Deal era of the 1930s and 1940s. Those are the parks many Marylanders can name off the top of their heads–Assateague, Cunningham Falls, Deep Creek Lake, Greenbrier, Gunpowder Falls, New Germany, Patapsco Valley, Sandy Point.
Thanks to the vision of the Moore-Miller Administration, the support of the Maryland General Assembly, and through the hard work of the Maryland Park Service, new names will join their ranks. The new parks include Wetipquin Creek State Park–the first in Wicomico County; Savage Highlands State Park, where visitors can sleep in yurts and cabins among the hemlocks of the surrounding 50,000-acre Savage River State Forest, and Freedman’s State Park in Montgomery County, where historical buildings and the agrarian landscape tell the story of Enoch George Howard and his family who bought their way out of slavery and built a thriving black community.
These sites also remind us that conservation is about more than protecting land. It is about protecting memory, culture, and opportunity for future generations.
In February, we added the historic African American cemetery that is the final resting place of enslaved, skilled workers at the historic Catoctin Furnace in Frederick County to Cunningham Falls State Park. These workers helped forge cannonballs that helped win the Revolutionary War and created the metal goods that enabled early American settlers to survive harsh colonial conditions.
Through this comprehensive expansion of public lands, DNR also acquired the former Artmor property at Wills Mountain State Park that will enable us to add a new road into the park that has been mostly inaccessible for 40 years. The road and new trails will provide visitors with the opportunity to ascend the mountain to view the sweeping landscape of Cumberland and the Narrows from the cliff tops.
And finally in October, DNR showcased our plans to improve educational, research, and recreational access to Holly Beach Farm Natural Resources Management Area in Annapolis. DNR is working with neighbors and partners to ensure that the sensitive ecology of this peninsula is protected while enabling the public to experience this spectacular location that offers gorgeous views of the Chesapeake Bay and the Bay Bridge.
My appreciation goes to our Park Service Director Angela Crenshaw and her team of rangers, planners, maintenance technicians, volunteers, and historians for putting these and other expansions into place to complement and improve our existing portfolio of public lands.
Importantly, these expansions do not require significant new funding from the general taxpayers. To purchase new lands for public use, DNR leverages Program Open Space, a public land purchasing program created in 1969 and funded by a portion of the real estate transfer tax. This program ensures that as Maryland’s land is developed into new homes and businesses, that public land funding increases to help expand parks and natural areas.
The General Assembly also provided a large fund to expand the park service in 2022 through the Great Maryland Outdoors Act, following a massive spike in park usage during the pandemic. DNR has used this funding to carefully plan these expansions, hire new staff, and complete work to ready these properties for public access.
As I’ve mentioned before, completing these tasks relies on our strong partnerships throughout the Department of Natural Resources and in the community. But to get the job done, there is nobody I trust more than the Maryland Park Service. In my four years here at DNR, the Park Service has risen to every challenge that comes their way. They are unwavering in the mission of conservation first, and they always remember the citizens they serve.
Our work isn’t done. Look for ongoing updates on these and other exciting plans for Maryland’s public lands as we open parks next year and continue to expand access to the Maryland outdoors.
Josh Kurtz is Secretary of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.
