Certified Land Preservation Programs

The Certified Land Preservation Program is state and local partnership to create local land preservation programs and continually improve them.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 Land Use / Land Cover 2010

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

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.