Ark of Biodiversity

EARTHKEEPING NEWS
A NEWSLETTER OF THE NORTH AMERICAN COALITION FOR CHRISTIANITY AND ECOLOGY

Volume Three, Number Four
March/April 1994

DEVELOPMENT THREATENS ARK OF BIODIVERSITY

Belt Woods Revisited

Seaton Belt, a faithful and generous member of St. Barnabas Church in Upper Marlboro MD, died in 1959. In his will he left to the church his farms and native woodlands, including 100 acres of Old Growth Virgin Forest, on the condition that they never sell his home farm and that they protect the woods from logging. The will also directed the church to oversee the actions of the Trustee (Mercantile Safe Deposit and Trust) in managing the estate.

In the mid 1970s the Diocese and the Trustee successfully petitioned the court to break the protective covenants in Mr. Belt's will, and by the early 1980s half the great oak forest had been sold for veneer. According to reporter Tom Horton "The bank said it was only doing its duty to maximize income to the church. The church said the income would benefit the elderly, and it was only doing what the bank felt best."

The state of Maryland a few years later purchased the remaining old growth forest for a forest preserve to protect it from logging.

The Church also approved and benefited financially from the sale of Mr. Belt's "Belmont" farm to the Evangel Temple which recently subdivided it for development. The Trustee is now nearing the end of a two-year county ordered negotiation process, with expected approval for the construction of 650 homes on 500 acres of Mr. Belt's home farm.

"We had the opportunity here to develop a national model for how to build, but they would not back off on a single lot less than the maximum density allowed by the county," said Dan Boone.

Although the development plan claims credit for forest preservation, several problems exist. Proposed sewer lines running through mature forest will necessitate cutting swaths of timber. Required storm-water holding ponds are proposed for valuable wooded wetlands. Greenways, forested corridors that would keep the state-preserved old growth connected to surrounding forest, are inadequate. There is a risk over time of " islanding" the ancient forest, leading to loss of wildlife and genetic diversity.

In closing, Tom Horton writes, "It is a fine thing to strive for more money to help the homeless and to run church schools. But if you do it at the expense of irreplaceable nature, what kind of lessons are you teaching?

"So many players are involved in the Belt Woods development — government, banks, lawyers, zoning boards — that it is perhaps easy for church leaders and their parishioners to ignore their own role. They are, or should be, driving the process, and they will be responsible for the fate of the forest."

Readers interested in delaying the development plans until the ethical dimensions of this situation are explored may write to the Right Reverend Ronald Haines, Bishop of Washington, Episcopal Church House, Mt. Saint Alban, Washington DC 20016, or to Mr. John Winder, Chairman, Peace and Environment Committee, 4400 East-West Hwy. Bethesda MD 20814.