The Rural Legacy Program will receive $16.03 million in Fiscal Year 2015 grants to permanently preserve working farms and other important natural lands throughout Maryland. Governor Martin O’Malley and the Board of Public Works approved the funding at today’s meeting in Annapolis.

“This year, through the Rural Legacy program, we are again pleased to protect thousands of critical acres ─ acres vital to the prosperity of Maryland and its citizens,” said Governor O’Malley. “Never to be developed, these lands will work in perpetuity enhancing air and water quality, providing habitat to plant and wildlife, hosting working farms and showcasing their beautiful scenery.”

Fiscal Year 2015 grants recipients:

Agricultural Security Corridor (Kent, Cecil, Caroline, Dorchester and Talbot counties) $650,000
Anne Arundel South (Anne Arundel)   $1,203,000
Coastal Bays (Worcester) $1,060,000
Deer Creek (Harford County) $1,265,000
Dividing Creek (Somerset and Worcester) $600,000
Gunpowder (Baltimore) $179,000
Lands End (Queen Anne’s County) $555,233
Little Pipe Creek/Upper Patapsco (Carroll) $800,000
Manor (Harford) $698,500
Mattapany (St. Mary’s) $212,979
Mid-Maryland Frederick (Frederick) $2,100,000
Mid-Maryland Washington (Washington) $1,445,000
Mountain Ridge (Allegany) $575,000
Nanticoke (Dorchester) $690,000
Patuxent (Prince George’s) $1,080,000
Piney Run (Baltimore) $1,390,288
Quantico Creek (Wicomico) $300,000
Zekiah (Charles) $1,230,000

Maryland’s Rural Legacy Program provides funding to preserve large tracts of natural lands and their natural resource-based industries. Enacted by the General Assembly in 1997, the program has to date provided more than $250 million to protect approximately 80,000 acres of valuable farm, field and forest land. The 11-member Rural Legacy Advisory Committee, and the associated Board, is comprised of Maryland’s Agriculture, Natural Resources and Planning Secretaries who review grant applications annually.

Article by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.