MAGIC 2005 Legislative Package Back to Photo Gallery

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In an effort to bring the management of state forests more in line with the desires of the public, two bills will be introduced in the Maryland State Legislature in 2005 that are designed to preserve large areas of state forests. Their purpose is to increase biodiversity preservation and wildlife habitat protection in Maryland. Protection of public forests is long overdue. Legislators will be asked to protect public lands with legislation in accordance with the public's desires. The first bill is designed to create a large expanse of unbroken forest in Western Maryland. This is the beginning of an Appalachian Preserve that one day may stretch up and down the Appalachian Mountains. Numerous species of plants and animals require mature forests of relatively large acreage to insure their survival. Scientists have recommended that "diversity maintenance zones" for species adapted to old-growth conditions be preserved in contiguous, unlogged blocks of at least 50,000 acres or more. The Green Ridge State Forest encompasses about 43,000 acres. Projects are underway across the USA to address habitat fragmentation issues, and work is progressing toward providing permanent wildlife connecting corridors between parks and other ecological areas. These concepts are well understood by biologists, and were integrated into Maryland's GreenPrint Program when it was developed by DNR. The program is now nearly extinct as most of the people responsible for it have left DNR, and funding has nearly dried up. As seen from the chart below, with green and brown areas showing protected lands in the Chesapeake Bay Ecoregion, existing protected areas are highly fragmented. This is the historic range of large carnivores like the Gray Wolf and Cougar. Only by designing large bioregions can we ever hope to return balance to the animal kingdom, and provide sufficient habitat for all species of plants and animals to survive. The differences between old forests and young forest are dramatic. These differences can easily be seen when forests of different ages are compared.
A Regeneration Clearcut	Thirty Year Old Forest
Hundred Year Old Forest	Old Growth Forest