Maryland Commission on Climate Change

The Maryland Commission on Climate Change (MCCC) is charged with developing an action plan and firm timetable for mitigation of and adaptation to the likely consequences and impacts of climate change in Maryland, including strategies to reduce Maryland's greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Maryland Land Preservation and Recreation Plan 2019-2023

The 2019 Land Preservation and Recreation Plan is a resource and a guide for strategically enhancing public outdoor recreation opportunities statewide over the next five years.

Maryland's Greenhouse Gas Reduction Act Plan

as required in §2–1205 of the Environment Article

Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays Critical Areas

In 1984, to safeguard the Bay from the negative impacts of intense development, the Maryland General Assembly enacted the Chesapeake Bay Critical Area Protection Program, a far-reaching effort to control future land use development in the Chesapeake's watershed.

Forest Service

The Forest Service restores, manages, and protects Maryland’s trees, forests, and forested ecosystems to sustain our natural resources and connect people to the land.

Land Acquisition and Planning Programs

The Department of Natural Resources Land Acquisition and Planning Unit works to advance land conservation and outdoor recreational opportunities in Maryland.

Rare, Threatened, and Endangered Species - Plants & Animals

The Wildlife and Heritage Service Natural Heritage Program tracks the status of over 1,250 native plants and animals that are among the rarest in Maryland and most in need of conservation efforts as elements of our State's natural diversity.

Rural Legacy Areas

The Rural Legacy Program was created in 1997 to protect large, contiguous tracts of Maryland's most precious cultural and natural resource lands through grants made to local applicants.

Targeted Ecological Areas

The GreenPrint map displays Targeted Ecological Areas (TEAs), lands and watersheds of high ecological value that have been identified as conservation priorities by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR).

Wildlife and Heritage Service

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources’s Wildlife and Heritage Service manages wildlife species in the state by monitoring wildlife populations, establishing hunting seasons, managing the habitat on public Wildlife Management Areas, protecting endangered species, and providing advice on wildlife issues.

Chesapeake & Coastal Service Programs

Maryland’s Chesapeake & Coastal Service is a partnership among local, regional and state agencies to ensure that the expertise, tools and financial resources are used to their utmost capacity to address Chesapeake, coastal and ocean management priorities.

Fisheries Programs

The fisheries programs are intended to provide for the conservation and equitable use of fishery resources.

Maryland Watershed Implementation Plan

Watershed Implementation Plans (WIPs) document the steps, measures, and practices Maryland and its local jurisdictions will take and implement to achieve and maintain the final Chesapeake Bay TMDL by the year 2025.

2022 Water Resources Element Guidance Update

The Water Resources Element (WRE), a statutory requirement for local comprehensive plans, is designed to ensure that local plans for growth and development can be supported given limitations and constraints of water resources and water, sewer and stormwater infrastructure. This WRE Guidance Update provides best practices for considering and addressing water-related climate change impacts, and for addressing the challenges that growth and development pose to our collective efforts to protect and restore Maryland waterbodies. The WRE Guidance Update outlines best practices and is an advisory document. Comprehensive planning, including WRE development, is a local government decision.

Coast Smart Climate Ready Action Boundary (CS-CRAB) Map

The Coast Smart Climate Ready Action Boundary (CS-CRAB) map was developed in a multi-agency effort by the Maryland Coast Smart Council to identify and mitigate future flood risk to the state's existing infrastructure. The data product was created leveraging existing FEMA regulatory boundaries and infusing an additional three feet of water elevation to determine the new water surface elevations and potential flooding extents (up and out).

Ecosystem Services

The benefits people gain from the environment can be collectively referred to as Ecosystem Services, which are commonly divided into four major categories: provisioning services (e.g. timber, firewood, food), regulating services (e.g. water purification, wildlife habitat), supporting services (e.g. nutrient cycling, soil formation) and cultural services (e.g. recreation, spiritual benefits.

Maryland Coastal Atlas

The Coastal Atlas is a mapping tool that allows state and local decision-makers to visually analyze and explore coastal and ocean data layers for project and planning purposes. Using the built-in tools, the user can query, map, and analyze spatial data to better understand Maryland's marine resources.

Maryland Land Use / Land Cover 2010

The Land Use & Cover map and data is used to show development trends on the landscape in Maryland.

Maryland Protected Lands Dashboard

The Maryland land preservation dashboard is designed to let you assess the current status of Maryland's land preservation efforts and to access the tabular data that informs the dashboard as well as available land preservation GIS data.

Maryland Public Water Access

This web page provides information on public water access sites in Maryland. Sites listed include boat ramps and soft launches (specifically for non-motorized vessels).

Maryland’s Plan to Adapt to Saltwater Intrusion and Salinization

Pursuant to Chapter 628 of the 2018 Laws of Maryland, the Maryland General Assembly tasked the Maryland Department of Planning (Planning) to “establish a plan to adapt to saltwater intrusion,” in consultation with the Maryland Departments of Natural Resources, Environment and Agriculture, Planning presents in this plan, as a result of collaboration with many state agency, university, and other partners, a first state-level report on this issue. The plan is a first step towards better understanding and addressing saltwater intrusion and salinization in Maryland. To varying degrees, saltwater intrusion and salinization already impacts Maryland’s groundwater, surface waters, wetlands, coastal forests, agriculture and infrastructure; however, there is currently no comprehensive understanding of all of the areas currently at risk, and limited knowledge of which areas are at risk in the future. To determine current and future areas at risk, extensive research, modeling and monitoring is recommended.

Maryland's Green Infrastructure Assessment

The Green Infrastructure Assessment (GIA), based on principles of landscape ecology and conservation biology, identified an ecological network using satellite imagery to characterize land cover, Geographic Information System (GIS) data on road, stream, wetland and other resource features, and biological databases.

Maryland's Tier II Waters

MDE Storymap of Tier II Waters describes how Maryland protects its Tier II streams on a watershed scale, to better ensure that downstream high quality waters are maintained.

MERLIN-Maryland’s Environmental Resource & Land Information Network

Maryland's Environmental Resources and Land Information Network (MERLIN) Online allows users to produce a custom map of any location in Maryland, to include their choice of base maps and data layers.