From the Maryland Department of Natural Resources:
The Rural Legacy Program will receive approximately $5.6 million in Fiscal Year 2013 grants to permanently protect agricultural and ecologically significant working landscapes throughout Maryland. Governor Martin O’Malley and the Board of Public Works approved the funding at today’s meeting in Annapolis.
“Through these conservation easements, we are able to protect our landscapes that are part of the rich history we share as Marylanders,” said Governor O’Malley.
The grants approved include the following Rural Legacy Areas and associated counties:
Anne Arundel South (Anne Arundel) $45,308
Coastal Bays (Worcester) $320,000
Deer Creek (Harford) $701,367
Dividing Creek (Somerset & Worcester) $130,632
Fair Hill (Cecil) $113,699
Mid-Maryland Washington (Washington) $1,260,000
Nanticoke (Dorchester) $650,000
Piney Run (Baltimore) $568,000
Upper Patapsco/Little Pipe Creek (Baltimore) $617,995
Mattapany (St. Mary’s) $775,000
Maryland’s Rural Legacy Program provides funding to preserve large tracts of forestry and agricultural land and natural resources, and for environmental protection while sustaining land for natural resource-based industries. Enacted by the General Assembly in 1997, the program has to-date provided more than $243 million to protect 75,435 acres of valuable farmland, forests and natural areas.
The 11-member Rural Legacy Advisory Committee and the Rural Legacy Board, which is comprised of Maryland’s Agriculture, Natural Resources and Planning secretaries, reviews grant applications annually. More information is available at dnr.maryland.gov/land/rurallegacy/.
The three member Board of Public Works is composed of Governor O’Malley (chair), Treasurer Nancy Kopp and Comptroller Peter Franchot. The BPW is authorized by the General Assembly to approve major construction and consultation contracts, equipment purchases, property transactions and other procurement transactions.
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