Duncan Signs Contract To Purchase First Legacy Open Space Property

Header--Montgomery County, Maryland. Press Releases

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Contact:Esther Bowring, 240-777-6530
James Caldwell, 240-777-7700

For Immediate Release: October 19, 2000

DUNCAN SIGNS CONTRACT TO PURCHASE FIRST LEGACY OPEN SPACE PROPERTY

Montgomery County Executive Douglas M. Duncan today launched the County's Forest Preservation Strategy by signing a contract to purchase Bucklodge Forest, the County's first acquisition using funds from the new Legacy Open Space program. The goal of the program is to protect open space lands of exceptional significance and value by purchasing privately owned forest properties in the County.

"The purchase of Bucklodge Forest invests in preserving our land resources today for a better environment in the future," said Duncan. "Forests clean the air, filter groundwater, reduce surface runoff, provide wildlife habitat, counteract urban heat island impacts - and ultimately protect watersheds and reservoirs. It is essential that we protect the County's few remaining critical natural areas and address our accelerating threat of forest fragmentation and loss now, before it is too late."

Last December Duncan formed a public-private Forest Preservation Task Force to help develop a Countywide Forest Preservation Strategy. The strategy establishes a long-term commitment by the citizens and government of Montgomery County to increase the quantity and improve the quality of forests and trees and restore and protect natural forest ecosystems in the County.

The task force will be presenting their recommendations to Duncan next month. The task force recognizes the importance of increasing preservation of upland forests and will be presenting their recommendations to Duncan about specific actions needed to reach that goal. In acquiring the 215-acre Bucklodge Forest tract at a cost of $3 million, the County preserves the third largest privately owned contiguous upland forest tract in the County.

Few forested County headwaters are as undisturbed as the Bucklodge Forest. The Bucklodge Branch originates on the site and the area contains some of the highest quality streams in the County. The forest is located south of Comus Road between Slidell Road to the east and Peach Tree Road to the west.

In June, the County approved $33 million for the Legacy Open Space program over the next decade. The program will use public and private funds to preserve lands with environmental, agricultural, open space, or cultural significance.

"I am delighted that our first purchase for the Legacy Open Space is this wonderful, environmentally sensitive forest land in the upcounty," said Montgomery County Councilmember Nancy Dacek. "Ralph Waldo Emerson once said that the creation of a thousand forests is in one acorn. This is the start of our forest and hopefully many more to come."

Bucklodge Forest will be managed by the County's Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to retain and nurture its natural forested state. Over the long-term, DEP hopes that Bucklodge will achieve old growth forest status and the accompanying rare and valuable habitat values now lacking in most developed areas.

For more information about the Forest Preservation Strategy, check the County's website at www.askdep.com or call the Department of Environmental Protection at 240-777-7700.

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