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REMARKS TO THE PUBLIC LAND LAW REVIEW

COMMISSION, NEW SENATE OFFICE BUILDING,

WASHINGTON, D. C.

January 12, 1968

Although you have been in session for two days, I would like to
extend to you a welcome — although belated — to this area and to
Washington. I feel I am justified in exercising this official prerogative
— not only as Governor of Maryland, but by the fact that this build-
ing stands upon land once belonging to Maryland.

May I assure you that, as Governor of Maryland, I have a profound
interest in the objectives of this Commission and a keen appreciation
of the complex problems which confront you.

Maryland, forty-second in size among the states, covers a total area
of 12, 303 square miles: 9, 874 square miles of land, and 2, 429 square
miles of water. Included in this water is the Potomac River, from its
origin at the West Virginia border to its confluence with the Chesa-
peake Bay, and the major portion of Chesapeake Bay with a shoreline
of 3, 190 miles. Maryland's total land surface is only 6 million acres.

While Maryland is a small state, it ranks fifth in the nation on the
basis of population density per square mile. Approximately 86 percent
of our citizens live in urban areas. The population of the Baltimore
metropolitan region alone exceeds the population of nine of the
eleven western states — the exceptions being California and Wash-
ington. More people live in Maryland's Montgomery County, im-
mediately northwest of the District Line, than reside in any of the
States of Nevada, Wyoming, Idaho, Montana, Alaska, or Hawaii.

Maryland, like the other states you have visited, has many prob-
lems. But, unlike the many states you have heard from, population
density is a major contributing factor. Some of these problems fall
under the sphere of influence of the Public Land Law Review Com-
mission, but many do not. Among the most perplexing problems fac-
ing the State of Maryland are the proper management of its limited
natural resources — especially land; the disposal and treatment of
solid and liquid waste; and the elimination or at least reduction of
water and air pollution.

Since Maryland was one of the thirteen original states, no public
domain exists within Maryland. Nevertheless, the nearly 4 million
Maryland citizens have a vested interest in our public lands just as