Anastasia Hopkinson, Save Your Annapolis Neck
“The City of Annapolis had always rubber-stamped forest conservation plans required by the Maryland Forest Conservation Act (FCA) for all developments on parcels of approximately one acre and above. The Annapolis Neck Peninsula Federation (ANPF) was committed to protecting natural resources because living by the Chesapeake Bay, we see the ugly consequences of destruction. We needed to challenge the standard practices, the status quo, and the well-funded developers. We needed to wake everyone up to the need to implement the laws. We turned to Chesapeake Legal Alliance (CLA) who connected us with lawyers who researched our legal issues and represented us in our legal battles. With their help, we not only were able to save local forests but also revealed deficiencies in the City’s FCA implementing an ordinance that was amended to provide much greater protections for forests. Our eight-year fight to save a local forest would not have happened, much less been successful, without CLA.