{"id":287188,"date":"2025-04-22T00:07:07","date_gmt":"2025-04-22T00:07:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/22\/how-maryland-hit-its-30x30-goal\/"},"modified":"2025-04-22T00:07:08","modified_gmt":"2025-04-22T00:07:08","slug":"how-maryland-hit-its-30x30-goal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/22\/how-maryland-hit-its-30x30-goal\/","title":{"rendered":"How Maryland Hit Its 30&#215;30 Goal"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/04\/18\/climate\/00CLI-50x50-Maryland-fcml\/00CLI-50x50-Maryland-fcml-facebookJumbo.jpg?ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"How Maryland Hit Its 30&#215;30 Goal\" title=\"How Maryland Hit Its 30&#215;30 Goal\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The protected land includes a one-acre fish hatchery at Unicorn Lake in eastern Maryland and the sprawling Green Ridge State Forest in the west. It includes shorelines, farms and woods around Naval Air Station Patuxent River, and the Chesapeake Forest Lands, some 75,000 wooded acres that are home to species like bald eagles and the once-endangered Delmarva fox squirrel.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">None of it can be developed, and all of it has helped Maryland reach a landmark conservation goal six years ahead of schedule, before any other state that\u2019s joined an effort known as \u201c30 by 30.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The program is part of a global initiative to protect 30 percent of the Earth\u2019s land and waters by 2030. In 2023, Maryland joined the effort and a year later, Gov. Wes Moore, a Democrat, announced that the goal had already been met. Nearly 1.9 million acres of land has been permanently protected from development, and the state has set a new target, to conserve 40 percent of its land by 2040.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Two years ago, Albert Nickerson and his wife, Kristen, a sixth generation farmer, conserved about 350 acres of farmland known as King\u2019s Ridge. That land is among roughly 1,600 acres that the Nickersons own and that are permanently off-limits to development. Along with producing food, conserved farmland can support wildlife, store carbon, reduce erosion and improve water quality through soil conservation practices.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"css-7ad88g e1mu4ftr0\"\/>\n<p class=\"css-798hid etfikam0\"><strong class=\"css-8qgvsz ebyp5n10\">50 States, 50 Fixes<\/strong> is <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2025\/climate\/50-states-fixes.html\" title=\"\">a series about local solutions<\/a> to environmental problems. More to come this year.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"css-7ad88g e1mu4ftr0\"\/>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe just feel as though it\u2019s important,\u201d said Mr. Nickerson, whose family grows corn, soy, barley and wheat, and raises livestock. \u201cEverybody I know that has property, to be quite honest with you, thinks the same way. We all want to leave it better than we found it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Officials, land trustees and environmentalists said a unique set of factors led to Maryland\u2019s success.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Since 1969, Maryland has levied a 0.5 percent transfer tax on real estate sales and used it for Program Open Space, which enables the state to acquire green spaces from voluntary sellers and purchase conservation easements from private landowners.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Owners like farmers and forest managers can still work the land, but agree that it can never be developed, even if the land changes hands.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Crucially, conservation has bipartisan support at the state level, said Elizabeth Carter, a land protection director at The Nature Conservancy. She said federal and state agencies, nonprofit groups and land trusts have worked together with shared goals, which helped the state meet its target sooner than many expected.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThat\u2019s something we celebrate, and it\u2019s exciting,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">One example of shared goals is the land around the Naval Air Station Patuxent River, which juts into the Chesapeake Bay. Because of military vehicle and aircraft tests, open land is needed around the base. The base also needs to be resilient against sea level rise, and having thriving natural spaces is a benefit, Ms. Carter said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">There are now more than 63,000 acres of protected land around the base. While the conservation area stretches into Delaware and Virginia, most of it is in Maryland, including the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Josh Kurtz, Maryland\u2019s secretary of Department of Natural Resources, said that while the state had to balance conservation needs with development pressures and housing demand, natural spaces were crucial to offsetting planet-heating greenhouse gas emissions and to protecting the Chesapeake Bay.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cBeing able to sequester carbon and mitigate climate impacts makes us more resilient in the face of climate change,\u201d Mr. Kurtz said. \u201cIt\u2019s also one of our key water quality strategies.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">According to Mr. Kurtz\u2019s office, land conservation measures have prevented about 85,000 pounds of nitrogen and 6,000 pounds of phosphorus, which fuel algae blooms and starve water of oxygen, from flowing into the bay each year. The University of Maryland calculated that the state\u2019s trees and forests absorbed and locked away 6.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2023.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Kate Burgess, who tracks state legislation to protect land for the National Caucus of Environmental Legislators, said that while Maryland was the first state to reach the 30 percent goal, Vermont has passed legislation to protect half of its land by 2050, the most ambitious target of any state.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Through an executive order and a series of attacks on environment protections, the Trump administration has effectively rescinded the national goal of 30 by 30. A White House spokeswoman called the Biden administration\u2019s climate policies \u201cradical\u201d and said they had harmed American families and stifled American businesses and the energy industry.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Some critics have also said the initiative amounts to a government land grab.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But Steve Kline, president and chief executive of the Eastern Shore Land Conservancy, which has protected 60,000 acres in Maryland, said he worked with willing landowners, including the Nickersons.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-5\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Kline also said that access to natural spaces was key to public support, as was revenue from tourism, recreation, hunting, fishing and agriculture. A recent report found that parks, forests and open spaces in Maryland generated billions of dollars in economic benefits, millions of dollars in property taxes and tens of thousands of jobs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIt\u2019s pushing back against this narrative that some elected officials and decision makers have, that economic development and conservation are mutually exclusive,\u201d Mr. Kline said. \u201cThat couldn\u2019t be any further from the case.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">While the state is still pushing toward its 40 by 40 target, there\u2019s been a setback. Facing a $3.3 billion budget shortfall, the Maryland General Assembly recently voted to take $100 million from Program Open Space and other state conservation programs over the next four years. But A.J. Metcalf, a spokesman for the state\u2019s natural resources department, said the programs were projected to generate $468 million through fiscal year 2029, enough to continue to acquire land for conservation \u201cat a normal pace.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Kline said he hoped that the state surpassed its next goal. \u201cI would certainly hate to see our foot come off the pedal after 40 percent,\u201d he said. \u201cWe feel like we\u2019ve got something pretty special that\u2019s worth protecting.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/04\/21\/climate\/maryland-30x30-conservation-land.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The protected land includes a one-acre fish hatchery at Unicorn Lake in eastern Maryland and the sprawling Green Ridge State Forest in the west. It includes shorelines, farms and woods around Naval Air Station Patuxent River, and the Chesapeake Forest Lands, some 75,000 wooded acres that are home to species like bald eagles and the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":287189,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/04\/18\/climate\/00CLI-50x50-Maryland-fcml\/00CLI-50x50-Maryland-fcml-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[223302,169713,223301,164047,4652,195228,23784,38738,17434,1028,188609,24975],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287188"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=287188"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287188\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":287190,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287188\/revisions\/287190"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/287189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=287188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=287188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=287188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}