Known as the "Boy Scout property," land just east of Route 235 and south of the Patuxent River Naval Air Station in St. Mary's County will be turned over to the Maryland Environmental Trust, which will strictly limit development there. Once slated to accommodate 258 residential units, the property will have no more than four home sites.

Acquiring the Boy Scout property is a major victory for the Maryland Environmental Trust because it includes 950 feet of waterfront land along the Chesapeake Bay. Watershed preservation programs along the bay have been threatened by development in many parts of the state, making such land particularly desirable by preservationists to include in the trust.

Donations to the environmental trust allow landowners to retain all ownership rights except for the right to develop, which is transferred to the state. Donors are eligible for federal and state tax deductions and property tax credits.

Putting the land in trust will also prevent development encroachment next to the Navy base, a key goal for military leaders and local officials interested in maintaining and expanding jobs related to St. Mary's largest economic engine. Efforts to prevent encroachment are a major factor during Base Realignment and Closure deliberations. The Pax River base has drawn thousands of new residents to Southern Maryland over the past two decades.

"I am glad we were able to work with [the Maryland Environmental Trust] and St. Mary's County to conserve this vital property while also benefiting the county's rural legacy program, the Naval Air Station's buffer zone and the Chesapeake Bay critical protection area," Facchina said in a statement.

The Facchina family's oft-stated commitment to environmental preservation has made them the single largest benefactors to the state's conservation trust since the program's creation in 1967. Much of the 2,104 total acres the family has donated has been strategically important waterfront land, including parcels along the St. Mary's, Potomac and Wicomico rivers. Last year, Facchina donated 362 acres along the Nanjemoy and Burgess creeks.

In total, the Maryland Environmental Trust protects more than 112,000 acres across the state. Although final donation totals for 2007 have not been calculated, in 2006 the program preserved more acreage in Charles County than in any other jurisdiction except Dorchester County. Facchina Construction Co. is headquartered in La Plata, Charles's county seat.

In the Washington region, 269 acres in Frederick County, 188 acres in Anne Arundel County, 71 acres in Prince George's County and three acres in Howard County were donated last year.

The donations are especially important in rapidly developing counties such as St. Mary's and Charles, where local leaders have committed to balance residential and commercial growth with stepped-up efforts to protect the area's rural heritage. The elected commissioners in these counties have promised to protect large percentages of the existing open space from development.