USDA Joins Partnership to Protect Rare Forest
Washington - The Agricultural Research Service (ARS) signed an agreement
today with the state of Maryland and other adjacent landowners to protect
a 25,660-acre East Coast natural area in the nation's capital region.
The signing marks the formation of the Baltimore-Washington Partners
for Forest Stewardship to develop a comprehensive Forest Stewardship Plan.
"This natural area with 3,270 acres of forest and 3,230 acres of wetlands
is sometimes called the ‘green lungs' of the Washington, D.C., metropolitan
region, because the trees emit so much oxygen into the atmosphere," said
ARS Administrator Edward B. Knipling. "ARS will continue to do its part
to exercise good stewardship over this valuable natural resource."
ARS, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief in-house scientific research
agency, signed the agreement at the Patuxent Research Refuge's National
Wildlife Visitor Center in Laurel, Md. Together, the refuge, managed by
the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and ARS' adjacent Henry A. Wallace
Beltsville (Md.) Agricultural Research Center (BARC) comprise about
20,000 acres of the natural area shared with other government agencies.
ARS and Patuxent joined with the other two major federal land-holding
facilities--the U.S. Army's Fort Meade at Laurel and the NASA/Goddard
Space Flight Center at Greenbelt--and with the nonprofit Center for
Chesapeake Communities to sign a memorandum of understanding with
the state of Maryland. The stewardship plan will be designed to be
compatible with the missions and ongoing programs of the participating agencies.
USDA has overseen a 13-year sustainable agriculture research program
that has reduced pesticide use at BARC by 75 percent and protected the
center's streams, one of which supports brown trout that require very clean water.
Also known as the "Green Wedge," the wooded area has long been designated
a historic forest research area by the state of Maryland. It has been
the site of development of a theory used to determine the amount of
forest acreage needed for survival of various bird species. It has
also been the site where major national and international bird-counting
techniques were developed.
The signing ceremony comes the day after the annual midwinter bird count
on the Green Wedge and 22 days after the Audubon Christmas bird count,
done mainly by Patuxent and BARC employees.
The Green Wedge is in the watershed of the Chesapeake Bay, so the quality
of runoff from this area affects the bay's health.
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