Baltimore County preserved 1,600 farm acres in 2009Baltimore County preserved 1,600 agricultural acres in 2009, adding 26 properties in the farm-rich northern area to its land programs. The county has permanently safeguarded from development 55,000 acres and has reached nearly 70 percent of its 80,000-acre goal. Saving those 1,600 acres cost nearly $8.6 million in county, state and federal money. The county, which funded more than half the cost of preservation easements last year, uses an array of government programs, including the Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Program, the Maryland Rural Legacy Program, the Baltimore County Rural Legacy Program, the Baltimore County Agricultural Land Preservation Program, the Maryland Greenprint Program, the Federal Farm and Ranch Protection Program, and the State Highways Viewshed Protection Program.

- Mary Gail Hare