WALK IN THE WOODS 2008 PRESS
Capital/Gazette article: "Preservation" by Janice Hayes Williams (April 2008)
Preservation!
“Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you”.
..Frank Lloyd Wright
How often do you have the opportunity to get out and enjoy nature? When is the last time you took out time to ride a bike, go fishing, have a picnic, or just take a walk through the woods. Why not talk a walk with us, the Scenic Rivers Land Trust on Saturday for the second annual “Walk for the Woods”. Fresh air, exercise and an opportunity to explore parts of a 546 acre tract, a wilderness experience untouched by time, right in the heart of Anne Arundel County.
This tract of land of land in Crownsville has been known by Anne Arundel County historians as the Bacon Ridge Tract. In 2002 the State Board of Public Works approved the transfer of 550 acres of land from the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to the Maryland Environmental Trust for preservation. This tract of land mostly forest, originally included the old Crownsville State Hospital patient Cemetery. The Cemetery remains in the hands of the State for perpetual care.
This transfer of property finalized a project by former Governor Parris Glendening to preserve the property, protect water quality and the Chesapeake Bay watershed. This project continued the vision and landmark legislation of former Governor Harry Hughes to protect the Chesapeake Bay. Join us on Saturday and walk with us on what is now called the Bacon Ridge Branch Natural Area which has not yet be opened to the public. The natural area is projected to be a part of the Anne Arundel County Park System. What a great opportunity to see lily ponds, upland streams, spring wild flowers, nesting birds and other delights of nature as you hike a 1 to 4 mile trail. On Saturday you will have the opportunity to walk along with a guide of Points of Interest or join a guided bird or naturalist walk.
This area is an Important Bird Area (IBA) for interior birds. Bird’s surveys, organized by Audubon in 2007 revealed 18 species of forest interior birds including healthy numbers of understory-nesting species such as Kentucky-Warblers, Hooded Warbler and Worm-eating Warbler. If you join us on Saturday and decide to talk a guided bird tour, this year this tour will be lead by Dr. David Carson, Director of Bird Conservation for Audubon MD-DC. The next time you walk, hike or ride through a park or Greenway, please be reminded that many people and funding made this happen – land, and nature preserved for all of us to enjoy.
This is why we walk for the woods. We walk to remind you that if the land is not preserved it will be developed. It there is no stewardship, the Chesapeake Bay will die. If there is no understanding, than land owners would never consider preserving forests and wetlands in an effort to save the environment. In 1988, the Scenic Rivers Land Trust was organized to help protect land in Anne Arundel County. For twenty years SRLT has provided this community with stewardship and leadership. During this twenty year period SRLT has managed to protect 1200 acres of land through conservation easements and will assist the Maryland Environmental Trust with management of the Bacon Ridge Branch. The SRLT also educates land holders about conservation and stewardship which is evidenced through permanent conservation easements within the Severn, South, Patuxent, Rhode and West River watersheds.
The Bacon Ridge Natural Area Crownsville is an important victory in land conservation. The natural area the birds, the forest as well as its early Maryland history are important to us. There are many stories of the Crownsville area to include the early years of the Native American Indian influence. Through oral histories from members of the Worthington family who owned plantations and large land tracts, we know of the interaction of the Native American’s, the slaves and the Europeans. It has been said that the Native Americans in this watershed taught the others about the bounty from the Chesapeake and how to prepare it. We also know that there are a few of us in Annapolis from the Crownsville area who are descendants of the Native Americans from the area.
Come our and join us on Saturday. A bird walk begins at 8am and the Walk begins at 9am. While we raise funds for continued stewardship of the Chesapeake through land conservation come to Crownsville and experience something exciting, refreshing and invigorating. I’ll be there spending a few minutes talking about the history of the Crownsville State Hospital, the patients and the Cemetery.
It was on the Bacon Ridge Tract that the hospital was founded and built to house Maryland’s Negro insane. From patients suffering from tuberculosis living in tents to building their own hospital it is an incredible yet sad episode in Maryland history. Although buried with numbers on the death stone with out a names, their names have been found by volunteers, concerned Maryland citizens, who knew that the story must be told. For more information call 443-597-0063. or email us at walk@srlt.org.
Capital/Gazette article: "Fundraising event offers tour of Crownsville preserve" by Pamela Wood (April 2007)
A peek at county's latest land purchase: Fundraising event offers tour of Crownsville preserve
By PAMELA WOOD, Staff Writer
Dressed in windbreakers, jeans and hiking boots - and armed with Swarovski binoculars and digital cameras - a group of birdwatchers ventured into unknown territory yesterday morning.
Not far from the dull rush of cars along Interstate 97, they found themselves standing along a dirt trail, peering down a hillside into a wetland. Sunlight filtered through the tall trees, gently warming the cool spring air.
The group's leader, Claire Horvath, motioned for the birders to pause and quiet down.
"We're just listening for a minute because it's pretty," she said.
Chirps and squawks filled the air. In the distance, a woodpecker rattled.
For some, it was a little bit of paradise in the middle of suburbia.
The woods - 546 acres of them - now belong to the citizens of Anne Arundel County. Once part of the old Crownsville Hospital Center campus, the state agreed to turn the land over to the county for $1.
The land will never be developed, a promise that will be sealed in a legal document called a conservation easement.
The Scenic Rivers Land Trust and the Maryland Environmental Trust will jointly hold the easement on the land.
Not many people have been able to venture on the Crownsville land, so the Scenic Rivers Land Trust sought permission to hold their annual fundraising "Walk for the Woods" event there yesterday.
Land trust members, birders and other curious nature lovers traipsed over trails on the Crownsville land for hours yesterday.
Once the trails lead away from the highway, the only reminder of modern life is an occasional airplane flying overhead. Instead of strip malls and housing developments, the scenery is tall trees as far as the eye can see, a still pond dotted with spatterdock lillies, fragrant spice bushes and crunchy leaves underfoot.
The soundtrack is provided by chickadees, goldfinches, cowbirds, downy woodpeckers, yellow warblers, Kentucky warblers and peeper frogs.
"It's hard to believe we're in the middle of Anne Arundel County," said Rich Mason, a land trust board member who lives nearby.
The walk was a reminder of how important it is to save what undeveloped land that's left, said Dr. David R. Curson, director of bird conservation for Audubon Maryland-D.C.
"It's a wonderful area and what's important is it's a large, intact forest area," he said.
Dr. Curson will lead bird-counting expeditions on the property this spring. He hopes there will be enough birds to classify the land as an "important bird area."
While the classification holds no legal weight, he thinks it might encourage other land owners in the area to conserve their property as well.
While the property was awe-inspiring to many participants, there were bad signs as well. Many of the old dirt roadbeds are suffering from erosion. Some of the damage may be caused by all-terrain vehicles, as ATV tracks were found on nearly every path.
Eventually the county will open the land for some level of public access, though the details remain to be worked out. For now, it takes special permission and the keys to two locked gates to get to the property.
Yesterday's walk wasn't just for the appreciation of nature. It also was a fundraiser for the nonprofit trust. Since the land trust's founding in 1988, the organization has protected about 1,450 acres in the county from development.
And the walk honored the memory of Colby Rucker, a local arborist and advocate for preservation who died in 2004. Mr. Rucker was well-known for leading regular hikes in the woods.
"There is so much pressure from development and Colby was one of the first to say we need to do something," said Dr. Cliff Andrew, president of the land trust.
For information about the Scenic Rivers Land Trust, visit www.srlt.org.
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