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.

Certified Heritage Areas

The Maryland Heritage Areas Program offers targeted financial and technical assistance within thirteen locally designated Heritage Areas, each of which has a distinct focus or theme that represents a unique aspect of Maryland’s character.

Certified Land Preservation Programs

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

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.

National Register/State Designation Historic Buildings/Sites

The National Register of Historic Places recognizes districts, buildings, structures, objects, and sites for their significance in American history, archeology, architecture, engineering, or culture, and identifies them as worthy of preservation.

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).

Land Restoration Program (Brownfields)

The Land Restoration Program focuses on cleaning up uncontrolled hazardous waste sites throughout Maryland.

Program Open Space - Local

Program Open Space – Local provides financial and technical assistance to local subdivisions for the planning, acquisition, and/or development of recreation land or open space areas.

Program Open Space - Stateside

Program Open Space Stateside preserves natural areas for public recreation and watershed and wildlife protection across Maryland through the purchase of fee-simple and easement acquisitions. Fee simple purchases are managed by the department as State Parks, Forests, and Wildlife and Fisheries Management Areas.

Maryland Growth & Conservation Analysis Tool

The Growth and Conservation Overlay interactive map shows local and state targeted growth and conservation areas for coordinated planning, management and resource allocation. The purpose of these areas is to identify where and how local and state government, as well as the private sector, can work together to achieve common goals.

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 Scenic Byways Resource Protection

Maryland’s Scenic Byway program helps communities enhance the quality of life and pride as well as visitor appeal by identifying and promoting as well as encouraging the responsible management and preservation of the State’s most scenic, cultural and historic roads and surrounding resources.

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.

Transfer of Development Rights Programs

Maryland Department of Planning provides outreach, education, technical assistance and analysis support to local governments on Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) programs.