Howard County’s rich farm­land and abun­dant forests cre­ate an ideal set­ting that nat­u­rally attracts a vari­ety of wildlife. Over 150 species of birds, fish, mam­mals, plants, and rep­tiles call this area home. Pre­serv­ing the envi­ron­ment while pro­tect­ing the safety of all of its res­i­dents (humans, ani­mals, and plants) is a del­i­cate bal­ance, but vital to the pro­tec­tion of our land and its inhabitants.

Explore wildlife and learn about habi­tat in Howard County by vol­un­teer­ing! Visit “Get Involved/Volunteer” to dis­cover your options.

Mid­dle Patux­ent Envi­ron­men­tal Area
Howard County Depart­ment of Recre­ation and Parks man­ages the 1,021-acre Mid­dle Patux­ent Envi­ron­men­tal Area (MPEA) in coop­er­a­tion with the Mid­dle Patux­ent Envi­ron­men­tal Foun­da­tion. This nat­ural area con­tains a diver­sity of habi­tat types. The upland and bot­tom­land hard­wood for­est, fields, wet­lands, ponds, and ripar­ian (river­ine) habi­tats are home to a diver­sity of wildlife, includ­ing an impres­sive list of about 150 species of birds, over 40 species of mam­mals, and numer­ous amphib­ians, rep­tiles, fishes, but­ter­flies, plants and other wildlife. The pri­mary com­po­nents of the MPEA’s mis­sion are nat­ural resource con­ser­va­tion, envi­ron­men­tal edu­ca­tion, research, and pas­sive recre­ation. The area is man­aged using ecosys­tem man­age­ment con­cepts to restore and pro­tect the diver­sity of com­mu­ni­ties found in this region. Five and one-half miles of hik­ing trails, with two inter­pre­tive nature trail brochures, give vis­i­tors an oppor­tu­nity to enjoy and learn about the area.

To find out more about MPEA pro­grams and man­age­ment activ­i­ties, con­tact MPEA Nat­ural Resources Man­ager, Cheryl Far­faras at 410−313−4726 or email cfarfaras@howardcountymd.gov.

South­wind Trail Inter­pre­tive Nature Walk
The Mid­dle Patux­ent Envi­ron­men­tal Area (MPEA) web­site includes a vir­tual inter­pre­tive nature trail. This brochure will guide you on a vir­tual tour through the South­wind Trail (2.3 miles), includ­ing the grass­land restora­tion area and a wet­land area. Num­bered mark­ers along the trail (see map) cor­re­spond to the num­bered inter­pre­tive point pic­tures. ENJOY!

Other Envi­ron­men­tal Areas
Are you aware that Howard County has a num­ber of sites des­ig­nated as envi­ron­men­tal areas? These are sites where no sports or orga­nized ath­letic activ­i­ties are allowed. They were set aside for the pur­pose of pro­tect­ing and con­serv­ing the nat­ural resources and are there for the enjoy­ment of those who take plea­sure in pas­sive recre­ational activ­i­ties such as walking/hiking, bird watch­ing, plant and ani­mal iden­ti­fi­ca­tion, pho­tog­ra­phy, etc. They all fea­ture walk­ing paths or trails and offer a broad vari­ety of habi­tats and ecosys­tems for your view­ing plea­sure. None of the sites have restroom facilities.

David Force Stream Val­ley Park
This park cov­ers 228 acres and fea­tures mostly wooded and many nat­ural sur­face paths.  Check out the web­page for more infor­ma­tion and an upcom­ing Trail Map.

Font Hill Wet­lands Park
This envi­ron­men­tal edu­ca­tion park fea­tures mostly open and lightly wooded areas, hard sur­faced paths and board­walks, two ponds (fish­ing only at large pond on Cen­ten­nial Lane side of park), obser­va­tion areas, and a stream. (25 acres) Park­ing only on Font Hill Drive side of park.

Gorman Stream Val­ley Park
Fea­tures wooded and open areas with numer­ous nat­ural sur­face paths. (215 acres)

Gwynn Acres
Mostly mature woods with hard sur­faced path­ways. (18 acres)

Mur­ray Hill Stream Val­ley Park

Patux­ent Branch Trail
Mostly wooded fea­tur­ing a scenic path­way (3.4 miles total) with his­toric inter­pre­tive signs. This sec­tion of path­way con­nects Sav­age to the Lake Elkhorn loop path (hard surfaced).

Envi­ron­men­tal Edu­ca­tion Series
The goal of the Depart­ment of Recre­ation and Parks (DRP) is to pre­serve a bal­ance of eco­log­i­cal, nat­ural and envi­ron­men­tal val­ues in Open Space land through­out the County. They strive to man­age these areas in a way that will pre­serve their eco­log­i­cal integrity while mak­ing them avail­able to the pub­lic for pas­sive recre­ational use. A key ele­ment in the man­age­ment plan is pub­lic aware­ness and edu­ca­tion. The Depart­ment of Recre­ation and Parks pro­duces a series of pub­li­ca­tions designed to edu­cate the pub­lic on mat­ters related to the con­ser­va­tion and preser­va­tion of the envi­ron­ment. To help accom­plish this goal, DRP staff is avail­able to speak with var­i­ous civic and com­mu­nity orga­ni­za­tions and to assist with the plan­ning and imple­men­ta­tion of projects such as habi­tat enhance­ment, refor­esta­tion, stream walks, water qual­ity mon­i­tor­ing, etc. Our mis­sion is to work together with the pub­lic to ful­fill the moral and civic respon­si­bil­ity with which we have all been charged…the stew­ard­ship of the land. For addi­tional infor­ma­tion, or to become involved in the pro­gram, please call 410−313−4700, or e-mail the Depart­ment of Recre­ation and Parks.