Funding approved for DNR’s Program Open Space Local, Community Parks and Playgrounds, and Rural Legacy programs
In the Mountain Ridge Rural Legacy Area, Allegany County will acquire a conservation easement on a 239-acre forest containing more than a mile of stream buffers. Mountain Ridge includes exemplary plant and wildlife habitat—an important migration corridor and perhaps the most significant golden eagle flyway in the state. Maryland DNR photo.
The Board of Public Works today approved $1.46 million in grants from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources to local governments for pickleball courts, a skate park, and land conservation in Allegany, Carroll, Cecil, Garrett, Talbot, and Washington counties.
More than $761,000 of funding for Maryland parks was approved through the Community Parks and Playgrounds program. In Allegany County, Bruce Park in Westernport will be renovated with a pavilion, pickleball courts, and a walking track. In Carroll County, Chief Sites Memorial Park Skate Park in Hampstead will be expanded. Cecil County’s Charlestown Athletic Complex will add a gable shelter, dugout shelters, tables, benches, and bleachers. In Garrett County, the town of Oakland will improve Broadford Park’s youth ballfields with draining and reseeding grass.
About $3,600 in additional Program Open Space – Local funding was approved for a public announcement system for the Talbot County Community Center.
In land conservation, nearly $696,000 of Rural Legacy program funding was approved to acquire permanent conservation easements in two Rural Legacy Areas. In the Mountain Ridge Rural Legacy Area, Allegany County will acquire an easement on a 239-acre forest containing more than a mile of stream buffers along tributaries to Warrior Run, a coldwater stream that flows directly into the North Branch of the Potomac River. In the Mid-Maryland Washington Rural Legacy Area, Washington County will acquire an easement on 45 acres of agricultural and forest land. This easement will permanently protect a forested buffer along Marsh Run – a tributary to the Potomac River – and provide additional preserved land adjacent to the C&O Canal National Historical Park.
More detailed information on these and other items is available in the Board of Public Works July 22, 2026 meeting agenda.
The three-member Board of Public Works is composed of Governor Wes Moore, Treasurer Dereck E. Davis and Comptroller Brooke E. Lierman.
Information about these Maryland recreation and land conservation programs:
Program Open Space – Local provides funding for county and municipal governments for the planning, acquisition, and development of recreational land or facilities. Funds are allocated annually to every county and Baltimore City and projects funded are determined by the local government. Established under the Department of Natural Resources in 1969, Program Open Space, along with other state land conservation programs, symbolizes Maryland’s long-term commitment to conserving our natural resources while providing exceptional outdoor recreation opportunities for all citizens. The program is funded by a property transfer tax.
The Community Parks and Playgrounds program provides funding to municipal governments to restore existing and create new park and recreational facilities throughout the state.
The Rural Legacy Program, created in 1997, conserves large working landscapes across 36 locally designated areas throughout Maryland. The Rural Legacy Program, along with the Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation, have recently earned the State of Maryland national recognition from the American Farmland Trust.
More news on funding approved for Program Open Space, Local Parks and Playgrounds Infrastructure, Greenspace Equity, Rural Legacy, and Conservation Reserve Enhancement Permanent Easement programs is available on the Maryland Department of Natural Resources’ Land News webpage.
