Soldiers Delight, where the deer roam and the buffalo used to roam, will have a little bit of the past in its future.
The Department of Natural Resources, in association with other state agencies, is developing a master plan to preserve rare wildflowers and prairie grasses that are being crowded out by competing plants.
The 2,000-acre natural-environment area in northwestern Baltimore County was once part of a game-filled grassland that covered thousands of acres in northern Maryland and Pennsylvania.
Now it is covered with millions of scrubby Virginia pines. Oak and other tree varieties grow along the edges. The rare plants thrive on serpentine, a rock largely made up of magnesium silicate that creates soil as it weathers. They are threatened with extinction by the shade the pines cast.
Fraser Bishop, the forest ranger who has managed the state-owned park since 1984, said there will be no mass destruction of trees.
"This is experimental," he said. "We're clearing about 10 acres now to see how the grasses and wildflowers respond."
For thousands of years, the Susquehannock and other Indian tribes kept the grasslands almost free of woody growth by burning. The burning drove the abundant game into the hunters' range and also renewed the grassy growth by destroying dead vegetation.
The pines, which can tolerate the toxic and nutrient-poor serpentine that covers the area, slowly began to move in as the Indians departed. The trees' stunted forms now cover the rocky hillsides and moist valleys of the park from Dolfield Road on the east to Liberty Reservoir on the west.
The 40 or so rare plants growing at Soldiers Delight include the fringed gentian and the sand plain gerardia, herbs found in only eight or nine places in the world, Mr. Bishop said.
Little bluestem, a prairie grass once widespread on the property, still thrives on sunny, south-facing slopes and works in special harmony with the fringed gentian in a symbiotic relationship that helps both to survive.
100,000 visitors a year
The park will maintain the historic and natural character that draws nearly 100,000 visitors each year to its 20 miles of trails, Mr. Bishop said.
"It's for people interested in nature, geology, botany, hiking and just plain relaxing in a quiet atmosphere," he said.
"We have people who just come out and sit on a rock and sunbathe or read a book."
The area was used for cattle grazing in the first half of the century and as a county dumping ground in the 1950s. A citizens group raised $25,000 toward its purchase, and the county and state added money for property acquisition. The park opened in 1970.
County historian John McGrain said the name Soldiers Delight probably came from troopers patrolling for hostile Indians late in the 17th century. "No one knows for sure," he said.
Red Dog, a hunting lodge built by landowner Frederick Dolfield in 1912, still is used as a base for groups who take guided hikes through the park.
"There's nothing like a roaring fire in the lodge fireplace and some hot chocolate for the kids after a night hike," Mr. Bishop said.
The area was heavily mined for chromite in the 19th century, and a half-dozen water-filled shafts are scattered around the park. Chromite is a valuable mineral used in stainless steel, in clothing to keep dye from running, in paint pigments and in salt-treated lumber.
An example of a buttle, a system of troughs laid in a streambed to recover chromite particles, is about a 100 yards down the hill from the visitors center off the 5100 block of Deer Park Road.
The center, which opened in 1991, is at the site of a notorious 18th century event: Murderer John Berry was hanged and his body left to rot.
Berry and two female accomplices were convicted of killing a farmer's wife and wounding her husband in 1751 in an attempt to gain control of the family's estate. The two women were tried quickly and strung up, but the Colonial government was so outraged by the crime that it ordered Berry's body to be hanged in chains and left to nature.
The more pleasant aspects of Soldiers Delight history include the Eastern bison and elk that once populated the area.
"I understand that elk were here as late as the 1920s," Mr. Bishop said.
Plenty of wildlife
There still are plenty of deer, raccoons, foxes and other wildlife native to the area, and Mr. Bishop said there is evidence that black bears, coyotes, wild turkeys and bobcats have returned to the park and the adjoining Liberty Reservoir.
"In the spring, you can hear the bobcats screaming like a woman in severe distress," said Mr. Bishop, who has yet to see the creature. "It can scare the wits out of you."
Besides his administrative duties, Mr. Bishop has to maintain the trails and buildings, keep the place clean and deal with illegal intruders.
Hunting is not permitted, and Mr. Bishop confiscated 11 guns and a bow one year, then had the hunters prosecuted in court. Fines range from $100 to $1,000.
He often jumps out of bed in the middle of the night when a neighbor calls to tell him a vehicle is using the trails. Wheeled vehicles and horses are not allowed in the park.
"Off-road vehicles are hardest to catch because they have no license," he said.
"Sometimes I just hide along the trail and step out and nab them."
The park's meager $80,000 annual operating budget means Mr. Bishop, the only full-time employee, must rely heavily on volunteers to keep it open.
Cheryl Novak works one day for pay and four days for nothing because she loves Soldiers Delight. She drives from Westminster to coordinate the work of about 50 volunteers, put out a newsletter and answer phones.
"I've put in 950 hours of volunteer work in the last six months because I like the people and the park," she said.
Charles Mitchell, who lives in nearby Randallstown, does building and other maintenance 18 to 20 hours a week as a volunteer.
"I was stressed out from long-distance trucking," he said.
"It's peaceful here, and I feel useful."
VISIT THE PARK
Soldiers Delight state park is closed on Saturdays and open from noon to 5 p.m. Sundays. Its weekday hours are 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Information: 922-3044.