County planners are aware of the effects of development
and have taken measures to reduce its impact. They have
established rural preservation areas, set a minimum for tidal
and non-tidal wetland buffers and confined development
to the major business district along State Route 235 within the
town of Lexington Park, where the Patuxent River Naval
Air Station is located (Maryland Dept. of Natural Resources,
2002; Fig. 2). However, with increasing population pressures,
the need for additional residential development appears
inevitable.