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Howard County delegation backs limited mechanical equipment use in Patuxent River wildland
Summary
Delegate Jen Teraza said Senate Bill 9-68 would allow the Department of Natural Resources limited use of mechanical or motorized equipment to maintain trails and emergency access in the Patuxent River wildland spanning Howard and Montgomery counties.
Delegate Jen Teraza presented Senate Bill 9-68 to the House Environment and Transportation Committee on April 1 as a local Howard County measure supported by the Howard County House and Senate delegations. The bill would provide the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) express authority to use mechanical or motorized equipment for specific, limited purposes — such as maintaining emergency access — in the Patuxent River wildland, which Teraza said includes approximately 1,579 acres of state-designated wildland and several parcels.
Teraza told the committee that restrictions on motorized equipment in state wildlands have limited trail maintenance, leaving trails overgrown and sometimes posing risks to park visitors and first responders. She said DNR and Montgomery County are supportive, though an official delegation letter from Montgomery County was not on the record at the time of the hearing. Committee members asked clarifying questions about parcel boundaries and whether the area overlapped Prince George’s County; Teraza said the parts addressed by this bill were not the portions in Prince George’s County and referred members to the full metes-and-bounds description.
The committee did not take action during the hearing. Supporters characterized the measure as narrowly tailored to allow DNR to maintain trails and emergency access where nonmechanized methods were insufficient.
