Message:

[

Previous   Next

]

By Topic:

[

Previous   Next

]

Subject:

Re: Finzel Swamp birding question

From:

Ed Boyd

Reply-To:

Ed Boyd

Date:

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 22:38:01 -0400

Hello Danny and MDOSPREY,

I refrained from responding until I was able to get more information on 
this subject and today I got a call from Debbie Carpenter from Garrett 
County. Her official title is:

Deborah A. Carpenter, GIS Specialist, Garrett County Planning & Land 
Development, 203 S Fourth St, Rm 210Oakland, MD  21550.

In here email she wrote the following that "helps" to explain some of 
the disparity that shows up on many of the various maps for the region.

"Ed,

Attached is a pdf with photo background using Dept of Agriculture NAIP 
imagery from 2009.  This is the boundary that both Garrett and Allegheny 
County uses as well as the MD Dept of Planning.  MD SHA used to use the 
Bauer line but were to re-create their mapping using this boundary 
instead.  If you want a definitive boundary line placed on the property 
I suggest you get a survey done and have the surveyor map where the line 
is in relation to your boundary lines.

Debbie "

*//*Obviously there is no interest in having the property surveyed, it's 
not quite /THAT/ important. After our discussion, though, I asked here 
if she could send me a copy of the Plat map and an Aerial Map showing 
the information that she provided. She did so and Bill Hubick agreed to 
post it on his site so that it could be available to anyone that is 
interested in following this further. Here is the link:

http://www.billhubick.com/docs/cranberry_swamp_photo.pdf

It seems, Danny, from the maps that she provided, that the old house 
that no longer exists by the parking area on the west side of the 
property is actually in Garrett County, as is much of the swamp itself. 
Perhaps your taxes actually went to the wrong jurisdiction? From the 
overhead, it appears that the boundary runs through the property just 
east of the entrance gate along the trail from SSW to NNE. This map 
shows that as much as 80-90% of the swamp itself is Garrett County land, 
although I can't tell where the actual swamp ends and shrubby fields 
begin. Only the extreme eastern portion appears to be in Allegheny. The 
pond and the area where the Baltimore Checkerspots are found is 
Allegheny land.

So June Tveekrem had a very valid question when she asked about the area 
and it was good for getting better information for all concerned about 
the property. I had always been told, and had then always assumed, that 
the property was entirely in Garrett, except for a small portion in the 
northeast that was generally inaccessible by most visitors. Assumptions 
are usually bad and this proves it out. Thank you for helping to 
enlighten us on this and to help get some of the records for the site 
corrected.

For you listers, I'm guessing ebird will now have to get two hot spots 
for posting, one in each county. It seems that unless you had a rail 
(Virginia and Sora usually for those unfamiliar) east of the entrance 
gate, your records in Garrett are still good and you don't luck out into 
getting them in Allegheny now. If you were fortunate enough to find one 
near the pond itself, that's another story. The Northern Shrike records 
are probably a bit more complicated and that's probably going to be a 
bit more dicey. My guess is that if you saw them from the creek bridges 
or along the trail immediately after then the birds should remain in 
Garrett. Again if they were near the pond you might be able to string 
one across the line into Allegheny. As always, it's your list and if you 
want to move some birds around to pad one county or another, let your 
conscience (or lack there-of) be your guide.

I hope that this information helps but I suspect it'll only cloud the 
issue about the site more.

Ed Boyd
Chestnut Hill Cove, MD


On 3/22/2012 8:27 PM, danny bystrak wrote:
> Ed, June, etc,
>   
>           I'm going to open the can of worms even further.  You are both right, kind of.  Having owned the house that used to be at the end of the road at Finzel Swamp for 16 years, I got quite used to telling people that June's interpretation was correct.  We were surprised when we found that we paid our taxes to Allegany County.  Puzzeled by this, I quickly dove into finding out what I could about the Bauer Line / Chisholm Line controversy (not easy in the mid 80s with no internet).  Apparently the All.-Garr. Co. line was surveyed twice with different results at the northern end (same starting point at the southern end).  I was once told that the uneasy compromise was to leave (most) maps with the Bauer Line (more Garrett Co.) but taxes, etc. used the Chisholm Line (more Allegany Co.).  That explains why most maps (especially older ones) show Finzel Swamp all in Garrett.
>          Well, June's question and Ed's response got me re-interested and I did a google search and found this link, stating that, in 2008 it was decided that the Chisholm line was the legal boundary.  Here is a quote from page 3 of the document at http://mappingmaryland.net/pdf/boundary2.pdf   :
>   Probably the most important and dramatic court case was a 2008 Allegany County Circuit Court decision which declared the Chisholm Line, rather than the Bauer Line as the boundary line between Allegany and Garrett counties.
>   
> I also found this by seaching "bauer line" "chisholm line", but the URL to it doesn't seem to work:
> Garret-Allegany Boundary
> The Garret-Allegany boundary is the Bauer Line, described as going from the middle of the mouth of the Savage River to the Mason-Dixon Line on Savage Mountain to or near stone 179 on the Mason Dixon Line.  This line was declared unconstitutional on September 9, 2008.  The correct line is the Chisholm Line beginning at the middle of the Savage River where it empties into the Potomac and runs North 26 Degrees East, 18 ½ miles to a point on top of Savage Mountain, between stones 180 and 181 on the Mason Dixon Line.
>   
> This is confusing though, because both descriptions say the line ends on Savage Mountain, which can't be, BUT, the Bauer Line ends on Big Savage Mtn. and the Chisholm Line ends on Little Savage Mountain, so maybe the two surveyors disagreed as to which Savage Mountain?
>   
> Ed, I'm not sure where you got the location for milestones 180 and 181 when drawing your map, but check out:  http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?z=17&n=4398833&e=677921&s=25&size=m&loc=Cumberland
> which clearly shows that "between 180 and 181" is on Little Savage, making the western (or more Allegany) line the correct one.  Also, if you note where the "entering Garrett Co." signs are located on rtes 68 and 40, they are using the western line also.
>   
> All this aside, I still consider the fact that we paid Allegany Co. taxes for 16 years the strongest arguement!
>   
> So the bad news/good news (depending on which county list you want to inflate) is that most of Finzel Swamp is in Allegany Co.
>   
> Danny Bystrak
> Bristol AA Co.
>

############################

To unsubscribe from the MDOSPREY list:
write to: mailto:[log in to unmask]
or click the following link:
http://home.ease.lsoft.com/scripts/wa.exe?SUBED1=MDOSPREY&A=1