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Delegate Baylor seeks pilot to pay private landowners to preserve forest cover
Summary
Delegate Dylan Baylor urged a favorable report on HB 15-60, which would direct DNR to define an ecological value for private forests and pilot payments or incentives for landowners to preserve forest on voluntary long-term agreements; opponents warned it could subsidize timber extraction and requires careful fiscal review.
Delegate Dylan Baylor told the Environment and Transportation Committee on March 11 that House Bill 15-60 would create two linked reforms to boost private forest conservation in Maryland: require the Department of Natural Resources to develop criteria that quantify the "ecological value" of privately held forest land and fund a pilot program to test incentives for landowners who keep forests intact.
"I would respectfully request a favorable report," Baylor said, arguing the measures would add data-driven guidance to state policy and complement prior work such as the Tree Solutions Now Act and the Forest Conservation Act. He framed the pilot as a way to expand incentives beyond property-tax relief and to test alternative funding…
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