Maps
Protected Lands
Land may be protected from development in many forms, including
national, state, and local parks, and private conservation
easements. About 12 percent or 522,000 acres of the greater
Washington, D.C., metropolitan region is permanently protected.
As the Atlas shows, protected lands are often scattered and
disconnected. Nevertheless, many serve to protect particularly
vulnerable areas such as riparian corridors, or limit further
fragmentation of non-protected lands such as in agricultural
areas. Some jurisdictions have protected large amounts of
open space, but policies vary greatly from one location to
another. In Maryland, Montgomery County has some 98,000 acres
of permanently protected public and private land, nearly twice
as much as the next county in the region. Over 44,000 acres
are permanent conservation easements held on private agricultural
land mostly occurring in the Montgomery Agricultural Reserve.
In Virginia, Fauquier County leads the Commonwealth with nearly
40,000 acres held in private permanent agricultural easements.
Comparing the location and amount of protected land with
natural resource and agricultural lands helps create a picture
of where future protected lands might best serve the region's
needs-before it's too late. By starting with an informed vision
of where large blocks of valuable resource land should be
protected, as part of the region's "green infrastructure,"
wasteful suburban development patterns can be avoided and
the long-term value of both existing communities and rural
resource lands enhanced.
View entire Washington
Region Protected Lands map
View
data table for this map
Washington
Region in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed
| Imperviousness |
Natural Resource & Agricultural
Lands
Protected Lands | Protected
Greenspace Inside the Capital Beltway
Urbanization
Future Growth
Model
|
