Taylor-Made Deep Creek Vacations & Sales – Page 16

Will Maryland Close Its Borders to Fracking?

A bill to ban fracking for three years passes the Maryland House by a veto-proof 94-45, and now it’s up to the Senate decide.

Will Maryland soon close its borders to hydraulic fracturing, or fracking?

The state’s House of Delegates voted 94-45 Tuesday in favor of legislation that seeks a three-year ban on fracking, the controversial practice for extracting oil-and-gas reserves.

The largely Democrat-backed measure is now under review by the Senate Committee on Education, Health and Environmental Affairs. There’s no set timeline for a vote in the Senate, where it’s unclear if there’s enough support to pass the bill.

If this bill becomes law, “we believe it will lead to Maryland not allowing fracking” permanently, following in the footsteps of New York, said Ryanne Waters, a spokeswoman for the environmental advocacy group Food and Water Watch, which has campaigned against fracking in Maryland.

In December, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo banned fracking after a state study determined there is insufficient data available to conclude it would be safe. Fracking currently takes place in 22 states. Waters said that the New York decision has given the anti-fracking movement nationwide “more steam” and “more credibility.”

Md. Dept. of Natural Resources tags black bears

SWANTON, Md. (WJLA) – The Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) wants to keep tabs on the state’s black bear population.

Each spring, agents fan out to find bear cubs and their mothers to tag them for future monitoring. On Wednesday, they were out near Deep Creek Lake.

Deep in a hole in a hillside along a cold mountain stream, a black bear gave birth. State biologists have been tracking the 12-year-old bear with a radio collar for years. On Wednesday, it was time to change her collar and check her cubs. Biologists say their greatest concern is keeping the cubs warm.

It took two to pull the 230-pound adult bear from her den, before a veterinarian checked her.
Read more: http://www.wjla.com/articles/2015/03/md-dept-of-natural-resources-tags-black-bears-112622.html#ixzz3VV5P41Nt

Baby boom boosting Maryland's black bear population

GARRETT COUNTY, Md. —A baby boom is boosting the black bear population in Maryland, according to the Department of Natural Resources.

DNR officials estimate that 750 bear cubs were born in western Maryland this season.

As the ice melts on Deep Creek Lake, teams from the DNR are carrying out a rite of spring in western Maryland, tracking newborn black bears.

But before bear biologist Harry Spiker can count cubs, he has to tranquilize the mother bear. Veterinarians give the sedated mother, called a sow, a checkup.

“We look at how healthy the sow is, number of cubs, how healthy they look, and it gives them an idea of the health of the whole population here,” said Ellen Bronson, a senior veterinarian from The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore.

JUST SOLD!

Maryland chambers approve separate fracking bills

ANNAPOLIS, Md.—Legislation that limits when and how fracking could take place in Maryland passed Tuesday in both chambers of the state legislature.

Senators voted 29–17 for a bill that holds drilling companies strictly liable for injuries to residents or their property, and in the case of legal action companies would have to disclose what chemicals they use for drilling.

In a 93–45 House vote, delegates supported a three-year moratorium on the drilling practice and called for establishing a scientific review panel to look at impacts to public health and the environment.

“These bills are not mutually exclusive. I think there’s much more study that needs to be done on this, particularly the public health effects and environmental effects of fracking,” said Sen. Robert Zirkin, a Democrat from Baltimore County who sponsored the liability legislation. “The law we just passed from the Senate holds the correct people responsible if there is damage. Why should taxpayers be on the hook for environmental damage caused by the industry?”

Tiny houses starting to make a big impact on housing market

BALTIMORE – How much space do you need to live?

If you’re a tiny house enthusiast, not a whole lot.

“It’s about smart living, not big living,” Garrett County home builder Bill Thomas said.

Thomas, the founder of Hobbitat, constructs homes between 300 and 600 square feet, though many so-called tiny homes are even smaller. Hobbitat’s smallest homes are in Deep Creek Lake’s Blue Moon Rising ecotourism resort, while the “Hobs” designed for full-time living run bigger.

They are still a far cry from the average U.S. home, which is around 2,600 square feet, according to the most recent data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Fracking moratorium bill fends off amendments, heads to vote

A bill to place a three-year moratorium on fracking in Maryland survived eight amendments and is headed to a vote in the House of Delegates.

On Monday, the Protect Our Health and Communities Act dodged attempts by House Republicans to change the legislation and make it easier for fracking to start in western Maryland. Currently there is no fracking in Maryland.

Swallow Falls State Park

Check out The Weather Channel list for the Best Watering Holes in every state!

http://www.weather.com/travel/news/swimming-every-state

Swallow Falls State Park is tops in Maryland!

PRICE IMPROVEMENT!

Famous Travelers: Edison, Ford, Firestone Promote Outdoor Recreation with a President

By Francis Champ Zumbrun

“Imagine a scenario in which an outdoors-loving president takes a sudden weekend leave from the White House to join up with three of the most powerful industrialists in the Western world at a campsite in the mountains of Western Maryland, where they ride horses, shoot rifles, chop wood, and eat and sleep in tents beside a babbling brook.” – Norman Brauer, author of “There to Breathe the Beauty.”

Camp table, 1921

During the week of July 21-27, 1921, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford and Harvey Firestone camped at a site about six miles east of Hancock in Washington County. During the weekend, President Warren G. Harding joined the “vagabonds” — the name the wealthy industrialists gave themselves when they camped together. The 200-acre farm where they made camp was located about one mile north of the National Turnpike along Licking Creek. Today, the campsite lies inside Camp Harding County Park. A plaque memorializes the gathering of these famous campers.

This was not the first time the vagabonds had been in the Old Line State. In 1918, while traveling from their camp site near Greensburg, Pa., to Leadmine, W.Va., the group passed through Garrett County. They stopped to eat lunch at Swallow Falls and purchased supplies in Oakland.

Author: Taylor-Made Deep Creek Vacations & Sales