Greenbury Point Conservation Area Under Threat to Become Private Golf Course

The Navy has received a request from the Naval Academy Golf Association to lease land at Greenbury Point Conservation Area with the intent of building a new golf course. The Navy is currently reviewing this proposal. The following statement is attributable to Chesapeake Conservancy President & CEO Joel Dunn:

“One of President Biden’s first Executive Orders was 14008, Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad. In the face of climate change and the nation’s loss of habitat for biodiversity, the President’s Executive Order raised the bar for conservation in this country with an important national goal to conserve 30% of the nation’s lands and waters by 2030.

“Achieving this national 30 x 30 conservation goal to protect America’s nature and wildlife requires us to think and act locally and to forge partnerships in the community and across government. That is one of the many reasons that I find this proposal to lease the Greenbury Point Conservation Area for yet another golf course⁠ so troubling, although I have yet to see the actual proposal and public meetings have been canceled.

“The Greenbury Point Conservation Area lies entirely within the critical area, designated by the state of Maryland as crucial to the health of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. The Department of Defense has been an exemplary leader within the Chesapeake Bay Program. It defies all logic to consider a proposal that would reduce wildlife habitat and may reduce public access to the shoreline on currently publicly accessible land in a conservation area.”

Photo by Jack Anderson

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