PLENTY Spring 2020 Plenty Spring 2020-WEB | Page 6

particu larly by enabling them to
purchase or lease farms by keeping
land values within reach through
programs such as Land Link Mont-
gomery. Additionally, the develop-
ment of a central farmers’ market
could not only provide high quality
produce for local palates; it can be
an educational force for healthy
living and build strong emotional
and financial bonds between the
Reserve and consumers as the
county becomes increasingly ur-
ban and diverse.
We can hope the Reserve
will remain a working landscape,
changing in ways we cannot now
imagine, but the greatest danger
to its integrity will come from
well-meaning but poorly thought
through policies that fragment
it with exurban development or
introduce invasive uses alien to its
purpose that would turn it from
a working landscape to a pas-
sive one-of-a-kind theme park,
sprinkled with incongruous subdi-
visions. The survival and integrity
of the Reserve rests on a broader
understanding by the public and
policy makers that it is vital part of
the county’s economy, the regional
environment, and its recreational
and cultural ecosystem. Our coun-
ty and state officials should heed
Hippocrates: First, do no harm.
And second, think before acting.
I have dwelt, thus far, primar-
ily on utilitarian justifications for
the Reserve. There is, however,
a deeper, moral reason for sus-
taining it so that it will still be
here in 2080 and 2180. An urban,
knowledge-based civilization has
many advantages but one of its
disadvantages is loss of connection
with Mother Earth. The Reserve is
an immediate reminder that there
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plenty I Spring sowing 2020
Peach trees in bloom at Lewis Orchard in Dickerson, a family-owned farm since 1888.
is a season for planting and one for
growing and one for harvest and
one for letting the earth rest be-
fore the cycle of life begins anew.
For all of us it is a public trust to
pass the Reserve on to future gen-
erations better than we received it.
This little patch of dirt is not
magnificent in the great scheme
of things. But, alone in this me-
tropolis, in the midst of constant
change and development, it is an
intentional garden, guarded by
law, rooted in history, a private
place that serves a public purpose.
In this urban and global age such
a garden is more important than
ever. It is a physical symbol and
moral recognition of humanity’s
inseparable connection with the
earth, which is so easily dimin-
ished as we move from farm to
This little patch of dirt is
not magnificent in the great
scheme of things. But, alone
in this metropolis, in the midst
of constant change and de-
velopment, it is an intentional
garden, guarded by law, rooted
in history, a private place that
serves a public purpose.
industry to the virtual world of
artificial intelligence. It is our
Voltaire’s Garden, a local place of
earth and heart where, as trustees
of the future, we share with its fee
simple owners, responsibility to
cultivate, because by so doing we
make ourselves and our commu-
nity better.
The ‘father” of Montgomery County’s Agricultural Reserve, Royce Hanson combined a
distinguished academic career with public service as chair of the Montgomery County
Planning Board (1972-81 and 2006-10). Author of many books and articles on local and
state government, planning, and constitutional law, his latest book, Suburb: Planning
Politics and the Public Interest (Cornell, 2017) discusses the planning and development
of Montgomery County since 1920, including a chapter on the Agricultural Reserve.