Realizing the Positive Vision of Chapman Forest

Thanks to the action of Governor Glendening in 1998, Maryland owns a property remarkable for the integrity and wealth of its natural and historic resources. These resources will greatly appreciate in the years to come – if kept intact. Let us not throw away this opportunity to keep a public treasure that will only increase in value as time passes. Proper management can achieve the following things.

It will allow the people of Maryland and the nearby region, and visitors from all over, to come see a large intact remnant of what the lower Potomac and its adjacent uplands used to be like, and to experience an exceptional historic setting.

It will provide exceptional educational and research opportunities.

It will make Chapman Forest a catalyst for positive economic development. Southern Maryland has been, for a half century, locked in a monotone and sprawl-dependent approach to economic development. An intact Chapman Forest will allow local leaders to pursue economic development that is dependent on and fueled by southern Maryland’s greatest assets – the very things that Chapman Forest is so richly endowed with – cultural and natural resources. Indian Head can be encouraged to find its niche as a waterfront destination tourist town, with a Navy Museum and hotel, restaurant and conference facilities.

It will provide opportunities for links that will enhance Chapman Forest’s value beyond its appreciation with time. These links include:

· The lower Potomac bioreserve. Chapman Forest and Mason Neck together, with their contiguous preserved lands, can be recognized as a bistate estuarine reserve system – an opportunity to work with Virginia to establish scientific research cooperation, increasing the rate at which we learn more about our key natural resources such as the Potomac River and the living resources that depend on it.

· A bistate historic district. This will increase the opportunities and quality of the opportunities for tourism, historical research and educational opportunities in both Maryland and Virginia along the Potomac River.

None of this can work if the Vision is not seen and used as a standard. Decisions that are inconsistent with the vision would make it hard to raise funds, and would damage public perception of what Chapman Forest is.

Therefore, every decision should be made consistent with a comprehensive vision of what Chapman Forest should be, and why it was worth $25 million of the State’s money and $3 million of the environmental community’s to keep Chapman Forest whole. Fortunately there has been one articulation – and only one – of a comprehensive management vision. That is the report of the Historical/Cultural Resources Work Group on Chapman Forest.

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