In the 1960s and 1970s, Montgomery County was losing thousands of acres of farmland to development spilling out of adjacent Washington D.C. Like most communities, Montgomery County could not afford to simply buy agricultural easements on all the land it wanted to save. So, instead, it decided to have growth pay for preservation and adopted what was to become the third most successful transfer of development rights, TDR, program in the country.

A cyclist passes a canal boat on the restored 19th century towpath in Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historic Park.

The TDR program is designed to save a 93,000-acre Agricultural Reserve in the most northerly reaches of the County. Within this Reserve, landowners who permanently restrict development on their land are awarded transferable development rights, or TDRs, to sell to developers. The developers use these TDRs to gain additional development potential in appropriately-located receiving areas outside the Agricultural Reserve. In Montgomery County, TDR is a hit with landowners and developers alike, as proven by the fact that the program had preserved almost 52,000 acres as of June 2008.

As of that same date, Montgomery County had preserved another 18,263 acres of farmland using four different purchase of development rights programs, producing a grand total of 70,093 acres of permanently-preserved farmland. In 2007, the Farmland Preservation Report stated that Montgomery County had the second most successful locally-operated farmland preservation program in the United States, exceeded only by Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.

In addition to preserved farmland, Montgomery County protects another 47,800 acres in federal, state and local parks. The National Park Service offers several historical landmarks in Montgomery County, like the home of Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross, and the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal National Historical Park. The C&O Canal and Towpath Trail allows bicyclists and hikers to travel the entire length of Montgomery County and continue to Cumberland in northwestern Maryland. There the converted tow path connects with the Great Allegheny Passage rail trail and continues to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, making, at 335 miles, the nation’s longest multi-purpose trail.

All of Seneca Creek State Park and a portion of Patuxent River State Park lie within Montgomery County. In addition to over 6,000 acres of open space and 35 miles of trails, Seneca Creek State Park features various historic landmarks including a restored one-room schoolhouse from the 19th Century. The State of Maryland contributes another 2,290 acres of open space to Montgomery County in the form of three wildlife management areas including the McKee-Beshers Wildlife Management Area, home to a wide array of waterfowl and other birds including wild turkey.

Montgomery County itself maintains almost 34,000 acres of parkland, with almost 25,000 acres of that total in land reserved for environmental preservation. Rachel Carson Conservation Park, named for the author of the environmental alarm bell Silent Spring, surrounds a stretch of the Hawlings River and serves as a trailhead for the Rachel Carson Greenway, which eventually will connect the historic Adelphi Mill in Prince George’s County with Patuxent River State Park, 25 miles to the north. Another stop on the Rachel Carson Greenway is the Underground Railroad Experience Trail, which recreates the wooded routes once used by slaves fleeing north toward the Quaker village of Sandy Spring. Not surprisingly, Montgomery County has also established an Agricultural History Farm Park which preserves the historic Bussard Farmstead as well as farm machinery and buildings moved here from throughout Montgomery County.

The combination of parkland and preserved farmland totals 104,000 acres, which is roughly one third of Montgomery County’s total land area. With this achievement, Montgomery County demonstrates how to preserve rural land in an urban metropolitan region and offers a living example of why that preservation is important. In the Agricultural Reserve, city dwellers can bicycle on a country road, buy fresh vegetables directly from local farmers and harvest their own fruit at pick-your-own orchards. In addition to safeguarding the option of a locally-grown food supply, this land preservation conserves wildlife habitat, contributes to a cleaner environment and offers a working rural landscape for future generations to enjoy and possibly emulate.