I looked at the maps of the three land tracts proposed for
disposition that are in Patapsco Valley State Park (PVSP), which
I care about because I grew up camping, running, and dating my
wife there.  I volunteer there as a naturalist a little now.

Tracts #67 (AA Co.) and #76 (Balt. Co.) are very small pieces
(9.9 & 3.7 acres, respectively) that are disconnected from the
main body of the park (14,283 acres).  Their disposition looks
reasonable to me.

Tract #82 (137.4 acres, Carroll Co.) appears to be the section of
PSVP on Raincliffe Road that is comprised of baseball/softball
fields and manicured lawn that is called Sykesville Park.  I know
that these fields are quite busy during early summer, at least
for girls' softball, and probably for Little League baseball.
Transferring/selling it to Carroll County or the City of
Sykesville would seem reasonable.  (Resident bluebirds and
orioles would be included.)  It would leave remaining wooded land
still contiguous with the rest of PVSP.  I cannot imagine that
sale for residential development of #82 would even be considered.

None of the precious Halethorpe Ponds are proposed for
disposition, though #67 and #76 are nearby.

Thanks Dave - good links!

Bill Ellis

-----Original Message-----
From: David Powell
Sent: Thursday, November 18, 2004 3:45 PM
To: 
Subject: [MDOSPREY] Park Land Sale

...
At DNR's website, two press releases have been posted on the
proposed land sale. The first is the qualifications of the
review, the second lists the property by county with a link to a
map.
...