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• New 1/14/2005: Douglas Point Management Plan Update
  The first Draft concept Map for the Douglas Point Management Plan is available for viewing and download. There will be a public tour of the Maryland Point and Douglas Point properties on January 29, 2005.



• 8/4/03: Lower Potomac River Coordinated Management Plan - both PDF and HTML versions of the 165-page report are available

The Douglas Point Area lies in a lightly-populated area of southern Maryland in western Charles County. The remaining portions of this once agricultural and rural peninsula county are experiencing rapid growth due to expanding economic opportunities created by increased military and contractor presence and urban sprawl. In fact, southern Maryland is currently the fastest growing area in the State.

The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), Bureau of Land Management, (BLM), Eastern States; the State of Maryland, Department of Natural Resources (DNR); the Commissioners of Charles County, Maryland (Charles County); and The Conservation Fund entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on December 13, 2000. This MOU was to establish a framework for cooperation to facilitate acquisition of an area along the Potomac River in the State of Maryland known as Douglas Point for the enjoyment of future generations. (View the MOU PDF, 2.3MB)

On December 21, 2001, BLM and the State of Maryland jointly acquired about 1,270 acres of land known as Douglas Point, lying along the Potomac River in Charles County. This area, one of the last remaining undeveloped tracts along the Potomac River, near fast-growing Washington, DC, offers outstanding potential for recreation, wildlife habitat, and cultural resources. The Douglas Point tract contains magnificent hardwood forests. Other unique resources in the general vicinity include the site of a Civil War encampment of approximately 25,000 troops; archeological sites; wildlife habitat for a wide variety of terrestrial and aquatic species; and unique wetland, woodland, and aquatic habitat including evolving ecosystems at the Mallows Bay shipwrecks.

In the Spring of 2002, the General Services Administration transferred to BLM 23 acres of waterfront, four miles south of the Douglas Point tract along the Potomac River. The property B the former Naval Research Laboratory, Maryland Point Field Site B also falls within the Lower Potomac River Project Area.

The next step in the project is the completion of the Lower Potomac River Coordinated Management Plan, which is a cooperative effort between the BLM and DNR. Primary objectives of the plan will be to identify and assess impacts, provide guidance for future public land acquisition and management, and ensure Federal consistency with State and Local plans and programs.