Maryland State Parks See Biggest Expansion Since the 1970s as Six New Public Land Projects Debut
Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Secretary Josh Kurtz announced in a signed message on November 5 that the Maryland Park Service has recently dedicated, showcased and shared progress on six new public land projects around the state, the largest expansion of Maryland's state park system since before the 1970s.
The projects span the state. Wetipquin Creek State Park is the first state park in Wicomico County. Savage Highlands State Park, set among the hemlocks of the surrounding 50,000-acre Savage River State Forest, offers yurt, cabin and camping stays after the state took over a former luxury retreat. Freedman's State Park in Montgomery County preserves historic buildings and an agrarian landscape telling the story of Enoch George Howard and his family, who bought their way out of slavery and built a thriving Black community.
Three other projects expand existing sites. In February, the historic African American cemetery at Catoctin Furnace in Frederick County, the final resting place of enslaved skilled workers who forged cannonballs for the Revolutionary War, was added to Cunningham Falls State Park. At Wills Mountain State Park, DNR acquired the former Artmor property to build a new road and trails into a park that has been mostly inaccessible for 40 years, opening cliff-top views over Cumberland and the Narrows. In October, DNR showcased plans for the Holly Beach Farm Natural Resources Management Area in Annapolis, a peninsula with sweeping views of the Chesapeake Bay and the Bay Bridge, balancing protection of its sensitive ecology with educational, research and recreational access.
Kurtz said the expansions do not require significant new funding from general taxpayers. Land purchases are funded mainly through Program Open Space, created in 1969 and funded by a portion of the state's real estate transfer tax, so public land funding grows as land is developed. The Great Maryland Outdoors Act, passed by the General Assembly in 2022 after a pandemic-era surge in park use, funded planning, new staff and work to ready the properties for public access.
Kurtz said the past four years represent an expansion of the state park system at a level not seen since before the 1970s, and that more parks will open next year. Most of Maryland's best-known state parks, including Assateague, Cunningham Falls and Deep Creek Lake, date from before and after the New Deal era of the 1930s and 1940s; Wetipquin Creek, Savage Highlands and Freedman's will now join their ranks.
(Source: Maryland Department of Natural Resources)
Source: Maryland Department of Natural Resources
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：马里兰州 Savage River 河谷秋景，邻近新设的 Savage Highlands 州公园所依托的 Savage River 州森林。CC0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: Autumn view of the Savage River in Maryland, near the Savage River State Forest surrounding the new Savage Highlands State Park. CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.
