05/25/2026
Swallow Falls Bridge: History and Tradition Reimagined?
Forty years ago, I helped with writing and amending the Scenic and Wild Rivers Act while serving on the Senate of Maryland Economic and Environmental Affairs Committee. This law had 3 overarching themes:
1. Protecting and preserving the Youghiogheny River
2. Recognizing and protecting property rights of those living along it
3. Assuring that the river corridor was in full compliance with legislative intent
Today, the notion of legislative intent has been ignored by the Secretary of DNR and the Court.
Two and a half years ago, Maryland Department of Natural Resources Secretary Josh Kurtz approved an unprecedented exception to the law, regulations, and the Youghiogheny River Management plan to permit Garrett County to build a new and significantly wider bridge through the Scenic Corridor at Swallow Falls State Park on a route off the original Bridge location. This means that 2 ½ acres and hundreds of old growth specimen hemlocks in the way will be destroyed.
Let’s not forget that the forest itself is why that protective legislation exists. Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, Harvey Firestone, and the naturalist John Burroughs camped at Muddy Creek Falls in 1918, drawn there by Fred Besley, Maryland’s first State Forrester. The Maryland Historical Society Marker still stands at their camp. Besley understood that national attention would do more for conservation than a hundred task forces and reports from the State House in Annapolis.
He was right then, but would he be today with the current top DNR leadership?
The State and County stated hardships do not survive public scrutiny. Emergency responders to Swallow Falls already approach from the South. The school bus crosses the bridge only to turn around—no students board on the far side. Tolliver Falls Trail sits a hundred feet from the planned clear-cut. None of this is “unnecessary hardship” within the meaning of the regulations our Committee wrote.
With filed objections by local petitioners to this exception, the Circuit Court agreed with the County and DNR. An appeal has been filed. Even worse, the State Highway Administration now characterizes this loss of protected old growth forest and conversion of State designated Irreplaceable Natural Area to a paved road as “de minimis.”
Seriously?
“De minimis” is a legal term for judicial expediency and convenience. It totally ignores the legal and regulatory framework created for the stewardship of Garrett County’s natural resources.
On May 13, the County opened a new public comment period at [email protected] Write. Ask the Commissioners to pursue Option1C which replaces the bridge in its existing footprint, with a temporary closure during construction.
Since 1995, the Wild Yough is in the National Rivers Inventory as being eligible for Federal Wild River designation by the National Park Service. Maybe it’s time to pursue this Federal designation since our State officials would just as soon develop and industrialize Maryland’s only Wild and Scenic River rather than follow the legal and regulatory framework.
We do not have to clear-cut three hundred years of old growth forest just to cross a protected river.
John N. Bambacus
