|
You
may never have heard the term "Agricultural Reserve"
but you have probably visited this rolling piedmont
landscape of farmland and villages. Have
you ever crossed the Potomac on White's Ferry from
Virginia to Maryland? If so, you were crossing into
Montgomery County's Agricultural Reserve. Has your
family hiked to the summit of Sugarloaf Mountain and
marveled over the patchwork of red barns, farm fields
and woodlands down below? You were gazing down on
the Agricultural Reserve. Have you visited the historic
village of Brookeville, where President James Madison
spent the night when the British occupied Washington
in 1814? It's a gateway to the "Ag Reserve."
You
may have driven through the countryside to Peach Tree
Road near Barnesville for fresh peaches. The peach
orchards along the road lie within the heart of the
Reserve. You may also have visited the pumpkin patch,
cut a live Christmas tree, or gone horseback riding
on one of the rustic trails winding through the Reserve.
And if you have stopped by one of the County's many
farmers markets on a Saturday morning for ripe tomatoes
and summer squash, chances are those fresh vegetables
were grown by farmers living and working within the
Ag Reserve.
The
Agricultural Reserve is a nationally acclaimed land-use
plan that was established in 1980 in response to the
rapid disappearance of Montgomery County farms. We
are celebrating this model farmland and open space
preservation program all year long. We invite you
to join us as we honor our farmers, their historic
and productive farms, and the vision of the Montgomery
County planners who brought the Agricultural Reserve
to fruition a quarter century ago. We also celebrate
the vision of current community leaders who continue
to protect this rural legacy for future generations.
Although
this county is best known for its livable suburbs,
agriculture still prevails in nearly one-third of
the county. The county's 577 farms (the majority of
them family-run) and 350 horticultural enterprises
contribute $252 million to the county's annual economy.
The Ag Reserve provides countless
benefits for all who live in Montgomery
County and the greater Washington area.
"It
is in the public interest to preserve farmland."
Those
words are from the Functional Master Plan for the
Preservation of Agriculture and Rural Open Space in
Montgomery County (October 1980), which established
the Agricultural Reserve some 25 years ago.
Dr.
Royce Hanson was the leading architect of Montgomery
County's Agricultural Reserve as Chairman of the
Montgomery County Planning Board in 1980. Last summer
he spoke these compelling words at a symposium hosted
by the Sugarloaf Citizens Association at Linden
Farm in Dickerson:
| "The
creation of Montgomery County's Agricultural
Reserve was not based in nostalgia. The Reserve
does not attempt to preserve itself, circa
1980, in amber, but to provide for a dynamic,
ever changing working landscape that has continuity
with
its cultural heritage but is not an agricultural
museum.
The
Reserve is a resource for the county that
allows us to experience the connections of
urban and rural life, to appreciate the landscape
and the ways in which we have shaped it through
the ages of human settlement and labor; and
to enrich all our lives, whether it be enabling
children to pick their own fruit at Benoni
Allnut's Homestead Farm, buy a new variety
of peaches or apples at Kingsbury's Orchard;
know where the turf for their lawns came from;
or have local sources of foods and fiber in
some long distant future when that may be
far more important than it is right now.
Value
is added to every home and household
in the area when we know future generations
can see Sugarloaf rising from fields instead
of roofs; bike a country road on the weekend
without having to drive to West Virginia;
and learn that it is possible and practical
to grow smart. And, if we remain constant
in purpose and inventive in spirit and policy,
this broad wedge of piedmont will forever
interrupt an unremitting urban advance. It
will tomorrow, as today, give us a chance
to catch our breath, enjoy a trace of what
the county's landscape once was, and realize
a promise of how to reconcile urbanization
and the environment."
—Dr.
Royce Hanson, Chairman of the Board of Trustees
of the Maryland Environmental Trust and a
member of the Board of Directors of the Maryland
Center for Agro-Ecology. The Agricultural
Reserve was created and adopted under his
leadership as Chairman of the Montgomery County
Planning Board, 1980. |
|
