WILLIAM DONALD SCHAEFER, Governor J.R. 8

Sarbanes and Barbara A. Mikulski, Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510;
and Representatives Royden P. Dyson, Helen Delich Bentley, Benjamin L. Cardin, C.
Thomas McMillen, Steny H. Hoyer, Beverly B. Byron, Kweisi Mfume, and Constance A.
Morella, House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution be forwarded by the Department of
Legislative Reference to the Honorable William Donald Schaefer, Governor of
Maryland; the Honorable Thomas V. Mike Miller, Jr., President of the Senate of
Maryland; and the Honorable R. Clayton Mitchell, Jr., Speaker of the House of
Delegates.

Signed May 2, 1990.

No. 8
(Senate Joint Resolution No. 23)

A Senate Joint Resolution concerning

Surplus Acreage at Ft. George G. Meade

FOR the purpose of requesting the United States Army Department of Defense to
transfer approximately 9,000 acres at Ft. George G. Meade to the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service as an addition to the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center for
certain purposes.

WHEREAS, A 9,000 acre portion of Ft. George G. Meade in Anne Arundel
County may be declared excess to the needs of the U.S. Army under the Base Closure
and Realignment Act (U.S. Public Law 100-526); and

WHEREAS, This 9,000 acre tract is primarily mature, undeveloped forest
consisting of over 6,900 acres of contiguous forest land, the largest remaining tract of
forest land in cental Maryland, located 18 miles from the centers of Baltimore and
Washington and 12 miles west of Annapolis; and

WHEREAS, The Ft. Meade acreage, when combined with adjacent land at the
Patuxent Wildlife Research Center and the Beltsville Agricultural Research Area,
constitutes a contiguous forest of over 15,000 acres; and

WHEREAS, The site contains over 1,200 acres of nontidal wetlands within the
floodplain corridor of the Patuxent and Little Patuxent Rivers which protect the three
miles of the site bordering the Patuxent River and four miles bordering the Little
Patuxent River; and

WHEREAS, There are over 106 breeding species of birds on the 9,000 acre tract,
including federally protected bald eagles and other species such as pileated
woodpeckers, wood ducks, barred owls, black ducks, and numerous rare songbird
species; and

WHEREAS, Many species of plants abound on the site, including the Maryland

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