natural resources

Carroll County's Board of Commissioners took a preliminary look at possible legislative requests at its Thursday meeting.

In order to ensure a series of "checks and balances" are in place during the master plan process, the Carroll County Board of Commissioners have decided to restructure the Department of Land Use, Planning and Development.

RCPP is a $235 million grant program that competitively award funds to conservation projects

A study is mapping coastal birds migratory patterns to learn whether they cross a 125-square-mile zone established for possible wind farms off Maryland's coast.

The Chesapeake Bay's crab population has rebounded some from last year's dangerously low level, state officials reported Monday, meaning there may be more of the iconic crustaceans to feast on this summer.

From wind to biogas, Maryland's Eastern Shore can be a green energy leader — if the terms are right

The Carroll County Forestry Board is accepting applications for the 2015 Natural Resources Careers Camp.

Three weeks into her new job, Patapsco Heritage Greenway Executive Director Mary Catherine Cochran has been keeping busy attending retreats, learning how to be an environmental steward of the park's natural resources and writing grant proposals for the group.

Stop fracking in Md. before your water starts tasting like licorice

Love Fellowship Christian Center's plan to build a church and related facilities on a site next to William Paca/Old Post Road Elementary School in Abingdon received a major boost in the county approval process recently when a zoning hearing examiner ruled favorably on a setback variance for the project.

Three Tilghman Island waterman were charged with using illegal oyster harvesting equipment in Broad Creek, a tributary of the Choptank River on the Eastern Shore, according to Maryland Natural Resources Police.

Sheets of ice up to a foot thick have crippled small boats, prevented night docking at the port of Baltimore and kept one Coast Guard cutter busy tending to stranded Chesapeake Bay islanders for more than a week straight amid this month's freeze, the worst in decades.

On Friday, two men with a fondness for Maryland's Tilghman Island will gather for a hearing in a wood-paneled federal courtroom in downtown Baltimore. Seated at the bench will be Judge Richard D. Bennett, who has a painting of the Knapps Narrows channel in his conference room and speaks of his visits to the Eastern Shore community. Seated in front of him will be Michael D. Hayden, Jr., a fourth-generation islander who has been convicted in a rockfish poaching conspiracy.

On insular Tilghman Island, many folks are outraged that William Lednum is in a federal prison. Not because of his crime: poaching rockfish in violation of state and federal law. No, they're upset that this fourth-generation islander and chief of the volunteer fire department will be serving a year and a day behind bars for pursuing his livelihood.

Maryland State Police are continuing to investigate a pedestrian collision in Sykesville on Wednesday, which involved a Natural Resources Police vehicle.

Two hunting guides who pleaded guilty to illegally baiting black bears in Garrett County were fined thousands of dollars and ordered to do community service on Thursday, prosecutors said.

Sparing more of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge from oil production is a welcome move and not a 'war' on Alaskans

Md. bucks national trend toward solar energy

Gov. Larry Hogan has lost a member of his cabinet, even before he could be nominated. Charles C.G. Evans Jr., whom Hogan had tapped to be secretary of natural resources, said Friday he has bowed out because he feared the rigors of managing the 1,300-employee department would take a toll on his health.

Gov.-elect Larry Hogan named a former Democratic lawmaker from Southern Maryland as state health secretary Tuesday as he continued to fill key posts in his administration.

Multiple law enforcement and regulatory agencies come together each hunting season to ensure that hunters are following state and local regulations and being safe. Though Carroll County had an accidental shooting injury less than two weeks ago, such instances are rare throughout the state.

Maryland agencies have concluded that natural gas production from the Marcellus Shale by hydraulic fracturing (fracking) can be accomplished without unacceptable risks, but only if a suite of best practices is required, monitoring and inspections are rigorous, and enforcement is ironclad. The Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) and the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) released their conclusions yesterday in a draft report written in close consultation with the Marcellus Shale Safe

Capping more than three years of study, the O'Malley administration declared Tuesday that hydraulic fracturing for natural gas can be done safely in Western Maryland, but only after regulations are tightened to reduce air and water pollution and protect residents from well contamination, noise and other disruption associated with an anticipated drilling boom.

The Board of Carroll County Commissioners signed a letter on Thursday stating their intent to join Dorchester and Kent Counties in their efforts to persuade federal and state agencies to allow them to engage in oyster restoration in the Chesapeake Bay.

In Anne Arundel County, Republican Steve Schuh and Democrat George F. Johnson IV are vying for the right to run Maryland's fifth-largest jurisdiction.

Boost Maryland's renewable energy capacity

County residents support agricultural tourism but measure before council is not the way to do it

Department of Natural Resources officials said Sunday they have turned the investigation of a fire at hay barns in the Fair Hill Natural Resources Management Area in Elkton over to the State Fire Marshal's office.

Janice Easter has been attracting birds of all types to her Fallston yard for years, but this summer, she saw one she's not sure she'll ever see again – an albino hummingbird.

Delmarva's marvelously productive salt marsh ecosystem is losing ground to the rising waters of the Chesapeake Bay. Salt marsh is that green fringe that protects natural areas, farms and communities from coastal storms and tides.

Climate change is a threat that requires people of faith to take action

Delmarva Peninsula fox squirrel is a rare success story in the 41-year history of the Endangered Species Act, and much of the credit goes to Guy W. Willey Sr. of Cambridge.

For six straight hours for four straight afternoons during one of the largest ship-hosting events in Baltimore history, all water traffic within a long rectangle of space smack in the middle of the Inner Harbor is being completely restricted by a cadre of law enforcement agencies.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is giving the Maryland Department of Natural Resources $153,321 to protect the bog turtle, which at just three to four inches long can fit in the palm of an adult hand - when it can be found at all. The grant will go toward buying a home for the turtle, which is so rare it's considered endangered in Maryland and classified as threatened nationally.

Kelly Scible explores the natural scenery at Irvine Nature Center.

Harford People's Counsel urges Board of Appeals to reverse decision granting a special exception for Harford County Airport expansion

Natural Resources Police

On Sunday, Aug. 24, Preservation Howard County will honor four award recipients at its 13th annual Preservationists of the Year ceremony.