US Route 301: Maryland Incorporates Environmental Stewardship into Transportation Planning

Partners turn to The Conservation Fund to help identify the best locations to protect an area’s green infrastructure in the context of an area’s ‘gray’ infrastructure and the need for transportation enhancements.

Summary

The Maryland State Highway Administration (SHA) asked The Conservation Fund to coordinate a Natural Resources Work Group with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and the US Fish and Wildlife Service. The work group is utilizing a green infrastructure approach to strategically prioritize conservation and restoration projects that provide environmental benefits to the communities affected by a planned road improvement.

Challenge

The Fund was asked to identify and evaluate environmental stewardship opportunities in the vicinity of the US 301 Waldorf Transportation Improvements Project in Charles and Prince George’s County, Maryland. The project required the Fund to obtain community input and to map a green infrastructure network to be used to rank and prioritize potential opportunities for consideration by an Interagency Work Group convened by Maryland SHA.

Solution

The Fund worked closely with the work group partners to identify important forest, wetland, aquatic system, and natural heritage resources in the vicinity of the project. The Fund’s Conservation Leadership Network and Strategic Conservation Program convened multiple community focus group meetings to obtain input on environmental stewardship priorities from agencies and local communities. The Fund’s project team is currently completing a decision support tool that will allow the Interagency Work Group to optimize the selection of environmental stewardship projects that would go above and beyond the compensatory mitigation required by law. The project is scheduled for completion in 2009.

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