274/Maryland Manual

Local Government Steering Committee

Marvin R. Long, Chairperson

The Committee was established under the State
Energy Conservation Plan to respond to the needs
of local jurisdictions. Appointed by the Energy
Office Director, the Committee assists with confer-
ences and roundtables and advises on literature
and programs (Code Natural Resources Article,
sec. 11-102).

FOREST, PARK AND WILDLIFE
SERVICE

Donald E. MacLauchlan, Director

Tawes State Office Building
Annapolis 21401 Telephone: 269-3776
Camping Information: 768-0895

The Forest, Park and Wildlife Service was
created in 1984 by combining the Forest and Park
Service and the Wildlife Administration (Chapter
136, Acts of 1984). The new Service works to serve
the forest management and recreational needs of
the people of Maryland. It also is responsible for
the maintenance, management, and protection of
birds, land-based reptiles and amphibians, and
mammals. This includes game species, non-game
species, and threatened and endangered wildlife.
The Service manages Maryland's natural, cultural,
historical, and recreational resources through four
programs: General Direction, Cooperative Forest-
ry, Forest and Park Management, and Wildlife
Management.

The General Direction Program provides direc-
tion, administrative support, and services to the
other three programs. Budget, personnel, purchas-
ing, training, fleet management, radio communica-
tions, safety, equal opportunity, and public infor-
mation functions directly serve the cooperative
forestry, forest and park, and wildlife management
programs.

The Cooperative Forestry Program provides assis-
tance to private forest landowners, municipalities,
and other governmental units in the management
of their forests and individual trees. The goal of the
program is to improve and maintain the economic,
aesthetic, recreational, and environmental contri-
butions of trees, forests, and forest related re-
sources for the benefit of people. The program has
five major elements: cooperative forest manage-
ment, resource utilization, resource planning, re-
source protection, and urban and community for-
estry.

The Cooperative Forestry Program provides
forest management expertise to private landowners
and the political subdivisions of the State. Forest
fire prevention and control, forest insect and
disease control, forest land management, forest
watershed management, reforestation, and urban
and community forestry represent the main thrusts
of the program. While such programs as fire
prevention and control, reforestation, and the
application of technical forestry to individual for-
est acreages have a long history in the Service,
urban and community forestry is, in part, new. The
new program emphasizes working with developers,
builders, architects, and city and county planners
in careful developmental planning and large-scale
forestry projects. Supervision of utility trimming
and municipal tree care programs continues to be
an important facet of urban and community forest-
ry. The urban forestry concept includes individual
shade tree consultations to private landowners, as
time permits.

The Forest and Park Management Program
administers and manages Maryland's State forests,
parks, scenic preserves, historic monuments, and
natural environment areas. While providing recre-
ational opportunities throughout the State, the
Management Program preserves the natural re-
sources, and ensures multiple use and a sustained
yield of forest resources.

The program is comprised of fifty-three manage-
ment projects, including four State forests, ten
multi-use parks, fourteen general recreation parks,
seven waterfront parks, six natural environment
areas, ten historic or scenic sites, one roadside
picnic area, and three natural resource manage-
ment areas.

Parks and recreational activity brochures are
available at each park and upon request from the
Forest, Park, and Wildlife Service.

The Wildlife Management Program applies mod-
ern professional wildlife management techniques to
both control and assure continuing wildlife pro-
duction while affording a maximum of public
recreational opportunities compatible with the wel-
fare of those resources. The Service engages in field
surveys and research projects to evaluate public
demands on wildlife resources, wildlife popula-
tions, harvesting parameters, and relevant environ-
mental factors. It constructs ponds (primarily
waterfowl habitat) and plants food and cover
vegetation.

Among the Service's projects and programs are
the development and management of thirty-two
state-owned Wildlife Management Areas (Public