Dunn: 2022 Is Shaping Up to Be the Year of Conservation in Maryland

A small freshwater fish called the Maryland darter – the only known species unique to Maryland – might not be top of mind for legislators or members of the Hogan administration in this year’s 2022 General Assembly. In truth, the idea that anyone in Annapolis would ponder the recent extinction of the Maryland darter during a busy session, in an election year, is as much a longshot as was the decades-long effort to protect this rare fish. Still, the extinction of the Maryland darter, announced last year by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, represents an ominous trend in the natural world that must be addressed.