DNR Partners With Maryland Public Television On Love Our Parks Website

Website to highlight new Maryland Parks documentary by award-winning MPT series Outdoors Maryland

Owings Mills, MD -  The Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and Maryland Public Television (MPT) today announced the launch of the new Love Our Parks website to compliment the new MPT documentary Outdoors Maryland: Love Our Parks. Love Our Parks is a joint venture between DNR and MPT and will feature stories from State Parks across the state, from Janes Island State Park to New Germany State Park, as well as an interactive feature through the new website

“Love Our Parks does a wonderful job highlighting one of Maryland’s most valued resources,” said Natural Resources Secretary John Griffin. “I’m pleased we could work together with MPT to introduce Marylanders to parks they may not have visited and explain the rich history behind them.”

The website gives Marylanders the opportunity to contribute to the Love Our Parks experience. Through the website, users will be able to provide their own videos, tell their own Parks stories and communicate directly with the Maryland State Parks Director Nita Settina on her personal blog. The parks will also loan Flip cameras to visitors so they can shoot their own video, and DNR parks staff will upload the videos to the website.

“MPT is proud to further our long-standing partnership with DNR in this important initiative,” said Robert J. Shuman, President and CEO of Maryland Public Television. “Together, Love Our Parks gives us a unique opportunity to bring the richness our state parks have to offer to all of the residents of this great state that we serve.“

Outdoors Maryland: Love Our Parks is an original documentary that tells the history of Maryland parklands through voices of park officials, environmental educators, history buffs and outdoor enthusiasts. The 60-minute documentary will air in September 2009.

The Outdoors Maryland: Love Our Parks Documentary will run in conjunction with Ken Burns’ upcoming new series, National Parks: America’s Best Idea. Burns filmed the documentary over the course of more than six years at some of America’s most spectacular outdoor locations. He traveled across the country from the Florida Everglades to the Arctic in Alaska to highlight people who were willing to devote themselves to saving some precious portions of the land they loved.

Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is the state agency responsible for providing natural and living resource-related services to citizens and visitors. DNR manages more than 449,000 acres of public lands and 17,000 miles of waterways, along with Maryland's forests, fisheries and wildlife for maximum environmental, economic and quality of life benefits. A national leader in land conservation, DNR-managed parks and natural, historic and cultural resources attract 12 million visitors annually. DNR is the lead agency in Maryland's effort to restore the Chesapeake Bay, the state's number one environmental priority. Learn more at www.dnr.maryland.gov