Balancing Maryland’s budget is an essential constitutional requirement. And for months the scope and scale of the cuts required to achieve that balance have been abundantly clear. It was plain to see what was coming. Those of us who work every day with Maryland landowners, farmers, and foresters to protect our natural resources, were preparing to see deep cuts as part of a plan to balance the state’s budget and we have advocated tirelessly to ensure the state’s conservation priorities remain just that.  Outreach to legislators from a wide variety of stakeholders—from agricultural organizations to restoration technicians to conservation groups—has been clear and insistent.

While the worst-case scenario seems to have been adverted (cutting 100% of all conservation funds for the next four years per the recommendations from the Department of Legislative Services), there is still one notable issue. The legislature appears poised to pass a budget that will cut $100 million from Program Open Space land conservation funding over the next four fiscal years. These cuts don’t apply equitably to all aspects of Program Open Space, disproportionately targeting land conservation by cutting Rural Legacy Funding, Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation (MALPF) funding, and Program Open Space stateside, the very bread and butter of Maryland’s 40×40 land conservation work and the key mechanisms for protecting working farmland. Each of these individual programs already has far more demand for dollars than we can ever hope to supply, and now they will have even less. Unlike other programs, once protected, these conserved properties require no further investment from the state in terms of staffing or maintenance.

Pulling back in such a way hardly seems in the best interests of the state. Progress towards protecting productive farmland, thriving fish and wildlife populations, healthy forests, clean water, resilient ecosystems, and a powerful agricultural and natural resources-based economy worth billions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of jobs every year isn’t something we can set aside and pick up later when fiscal conditions are perfect. Progress not made is ground lost forever, in many cases in the most literal sense possible.

Progress not made is ground lost forever, in many cases in the most literal sense possible.

And while budgets vary from year to year, for those of us on the ground in rural Maryland, the pressure on the landscape never abates. Fiscal forecasts notwithstanding, the stress on farms, forests, and open space to become something else only ever grows—houses, fulfillment centers, solar fields, battery storage, transmission corridors, highway expansion, data centers. There are bills in the legislature at this very moment aimed at making the conversion of Maryland’s natural landscape to these other uses even easier. All while dramatically cutting the single best tool for balancing these pressures—land preservation.

Contrary to what some may believe, land conservation has never been a higher priority. Program Open Space, Rural Legacy, Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation—these funding streams protect more than just land, they protect food production, healthy creeks and rivers, our treasured wildlife, biodiversity, cultural heritage, and the outdoor economy. These programs protect the land, yes. They also protect the quality of life and the livelihood of the people on that land.