| Baltimore-Washington Partners for Forest Stewardship |
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Natural Lands Serving the Needs of People...
The frontier of ecology is no longer found in our rural or wilderness areas. Our most sensitive environments are those areas impacted by our accommodation to the growing human population and need for economic opportunity. The vast majority of us live in cities, towns and suburban areas where people yearn for some contact with nature as a defining feature of their community and a needed benefit for the quality of their daily lives. Recognizing and preserving the ecological services and wildlife habitat provided by our natural areas has become a critical consideration in the design of our cities, neighborhoods and places of employment.
These Lands Must be Cared for...
The last remaining natural landscapes and forested ecosystems, within the Baltimore Washington Metropolitan corridor, are increasingly essential in the provision of ecological services for our health, land, climate, wildlife and the life sustaining capabilities of the Chesapeake Bay, especially in the face of increasing development pressures and a changing climate. This natural heirloom will continue to enrich our lives if we collaborate to preserve it, better understand its value and learn to delight in its myriad bounties. For this ecology to remain viable, however, we must apply our best science, information and expertise to guide our decisions in the stewardship and protection of this land.
The Baltimore Washington Partners for Forest Stewardship (BWPFS) is a call-to-action for all land managers to work together...
The Partnership provides a landscape-level perspective to coordinate management and restoration activities and applied research studies among public agency landowners and supporting governmental agencies in the highly urbanized Baltimore-Washington corridor. Through these efforts, the Partnership seeks to improve the ecological services of their natural landscapes and forested ecosystems and reduce the environmental impacts of their land and facility management activities to a greater degree by working together, rather than on an individual basis. The Partnership will seek out stakeholders in the region to forge other complementary management efforts, using this initiative as momentum.
Current Partnership Land Resources...
Of the 25,660 acres (40 square miles) of land managed by existing partner agencies, over 64% of the land area supports forests (13,270 acres) and wetlands (3,230 acres). The landscape surrounding the facilities is one of intense population growth and associated urban development. These lands represent one of the last remaining large contiguous blocks of urban forest land, are critical elements of the region’s Green Infrastructure network and provide irreplaceable water quality, air quality and living resources support services to the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan region.
The frontier of ecology is no longer found in our rural or wilderness areas. Our most sensitive environments are those areas impacted by our accommodation to the growing human population and need for economic opportunity. The vast majority of us live in cities, towns and suburban areas where people yearn for some contact with nature as a defining feature of their community and a needed benefit for the quality of their daily lives. Recognizing and preserving the ecological services and wildlife habitat provided by our natural areas has become a critical consideration in the design of our cities, neighborhoods and places of employment.
These Lands Must be Cared for...
The last remaining natural landscapes and forested ecosystems, within the Baltimore Washington Metropolitan corridor, are increasingly essential in the provision of ecological services for our health, land, climate, wildlife and the life sustaining capabilities of the Chesapeake Bay, especially in the face of increasing development pressures and a changing climate. This natural heirloom will continue to enrich our lives if we collaborate to preserve it, better understand its value and learn to delight in its myriad bounties. For this ecology to remain viable, however, we must apply our best science, information and expertise to guide our decisions in the stewardship and protection of this land.
The Baltimore Washington Partners for Forest Stewardship (BWPFS) is a call-to-action for all land managers to work together...
The Partnership provides a landscape-level perspective to coordinate management and restoration activities and applied research studies among public agency landowners and supporting governmental agencies in the highly urbanized Baltimore-Washington corridor. Through these efforts, the Partnership seeks to improve the ecological services of their natural landscapes and forested ecosystems and reduce the environmental impacts of their land and facility management activities to a greater degree by working together, rather than on an individual basis. The Partnership will seek out stakeholders in the region to forge other complementary management efforts, using this initiative as momentum.
Current Partnership Land Resources...
Of the 25,660 acres (40 square miles) of land managed by existing partner agencies, over 64% of the land area supports forests (13,270 acres) and wetlands (3,230 acres). The landscape surrounding the facilities is one of intense population growth and associated urban development. These lands represent one of the last remaining large contiguous blocks of urban forest land, are critical elements of the region’s Green Infrastructure network and provide irreplaceable water quality, air quality and living resources support services to the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan region.