- Joined
- Jan 8, 2012
Maryland's Gov. Larry Hogan and now former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke quietly came up with a plan to transfer about 512 acres of federal land at Oxon Cove Park in Prince George’s County to the state of Maryland so a new Redskins stadium can be built there. In exchange, about 2,481 acres in South Mountain State Battlefield, Gathland State Park “and some surrounding areas” would be transferred to the National Park Service.
The nonbinding agreement only recently came to light thanks to a public-records request by The Washington Post, which reports that local officials were "blindsided by the plan." https://www.washingtonpost.com/loca...06139e540e5_story.html?utm_term=.630ead8cb889
Impact on South Mountain Battlefield
“The idea of trading battlefields for football fields does a severe injustice for all those Americans who gave their last full measures of devotion fighting for their beliefs,” said Audrey Scanlan-Teller, vice president of the Central Maryland Heritage League (CMHL). “... We want to stand in solidarity with (opponents in Prince George’s) and not see this happen.”
Scanlan-Teller, who learned of the proposal last week, said she’s worried about the longterm viability for the state lands considering extensive maintenance backlogs at other National Park Service facilities.
Additionally, state park employees would lose their jobs and public hunting areas at Gathland would be closed since NPS policy does not allow for hunting on federal parklands, she said.
“I was just shocked by it,” Scanlan-Teller said. “It’s got to get out there and people need to voice their opinion.”
https://www.heraldmailmedia.com/new...eMjxlsWH3166ji8LXvoP5Q4i1JiL_clXI17nCSTMcEyXk
Why Oxen Cove Park?
Unfortunately, Oxen Cove park is in a prime location for a football stadium--convenient to DC, the Beltway, and the surrounding suburbs and adjacent to the MGM National Harbor Casino and other National Harbor development. A conceptual drawing of the new stadium includes a moat for kayakers. (https://www.wusa9.com/article/sport...tadium-site-youve-never-heard-of/65-622645473).
On the other hand, "Oxon Cove Park and Oxon Cove Farm is a national historic district that includes a living farm museum operated by the National Park Service.. It is part of National Capital Parks-East. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003. The park provides an excellent resource for environmental studies, wildlife observing, fishing, and other recreational activities made possible by easy access to the Potomac River. Fourteen buildings and two structures are located in the historic district and associated with the property's sequential development as a plantation, an institutional agricultural complex, and a farm museum." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxon_Cove_Park_and_Oxon_Hill_Farm).
A former park ranger who worked there for almost 20 years said, “This is a beautiful, bucolic place...They’re not running thousands of people through the turnstiles like at Disneyland, but it needs to be preserved.”
The nonbinding agreement only recently came to light thanks to a public-records request by The Washington Post, which reports that local officials were "blindsided by the plan." https://www.washingtonpost.com/loca...06139e540e5_story.html?utm_term=.630ead8cb889
Impact on South Mountain Battlefield
“The idea of trading battlefields for football fields does a severe injustice for all those Americans who gave their last full measures of devotion fighting for their beliefs,” said Audrey Scanlan-Teller, vice president of the Central Maryland Heritage League (CMHL). “... We want to stand in solidarity with (opponents in Prince George’s) and not see this happen.”
Scanlan-Teller, who learned of the proposal last week, said she’s worried about the longterm viability for the state lands considering extensive maintenance backlogs at other National Park Service facilities.
Additionally, state park employees would lose their jobs and public hunting areas at Gathland would be closed since NPS policy does not allow for hunting on federal parklands, she said.
“I was just shocked by it,” Scanlan-Teller said. “It’s got to get out there and people need to voice their opinion.”
https://www.heraldmailmedia.com/new...eMjxlsWH3166ji8LXvoP5Q4i1JiL_clXI17nCSTMcEyXk
Why Oxen Cove Park?
Unfortunately, Oxen Cove park is in a prime location for a football stadium--convenient to DC, the Beltway, and the surrounding suburbs and adjacent to the MGM National Harbor Casino and other National Harbor development. A conceptual drawing of the new stadium includes a moat for kayakers. (https://www.wusa9.com/article/sport...tadium-site-youve-never-heard-of/65-622645473).
On the other hand, "Oxon Cove Park and Oxon Cove Farm is a national historic district that includes a living farm museum operated by the National Park Service.. It is part of National Capital Parks-East. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003. The park provides an excellent resource for environmental studies, wildlife observing, fishing, and other recreational activities made possible by easy access to the Potomac River. Fourteen buildings and two structures are located in the historic district and associated with the property's sequential development as a plantation, an institutional agricultural complex, and a farm museum." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxon_Cove_Park_and_Oxon_Hill_Farm).
A former park ranger who worked there for almost 20 years said, “This is a beautiful, bucolic place...They’re not running thousands of people through the turnstiles like at Disneyland, but it needs to be preserved.”
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