Letter: Marylanders should continue to question DNR’s handling of Savage Highlands State Park

Dear editor,

Maryland DNR’s website for Savage Highlands State Park, formerly the Savage River Lodge, still indicates that the park is closed to public use, but alludes to a phased opening later this summer. We should hope that additional information will come soon as summer will be over in about six weeks. Word on the street is that there will be some sort of “soft opening” of this new park, but these details are as sketchy as those involved when the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (over) paid $8.7 million to the former owners to purchase the property.

In 2024 DNR told the Board of Public Works and the public that the Savage River Lodge property was a premier recreational facility that could easily be improved for use as a state park by the fall of 2025. DNR’s leadership indicated that the cabins and yurts at this new park would provide much-needed lodging facilities similar to those at nearby state parks. It was represented that such facilities were in high demand, and that rental of the facilities would be much more reasonable if they were in state ownership.

Once again, DNR has misinformed the public. If you visit the Maryland State Park Reservation System, you will find that the cost for a cabin or yurt at this new state park will cost $200 to $250 per night, which is more than double the cost of a nightly stay at nearby New Germany or Herrington Manor State Parks, and only a small fraction less than when it was in private ownership.

If one makes a comparison between Savage Highlands State Park and its sister parks in Garrett County, you will find that the only amenity the new park offers is access to an “upscale” lodge building. DNR has made no accommodation thus far to provide the type and variety of recreational amenities offered by other parks in the region. As such, visitors to Savage Highlands State Park will be paying twice as much to stay at that park while having to travel to other state parks to find the types of recreational facilities they typically seek.

The reservation system also indicates that the season for Savage Highlands State Park will run for 65 days in 2026 (August 28 through October 31) and for 213 days in 2027 (April 1 through October 31). This should prove to all of us that DNR showed little forethought in spending $8.7 million on a facility that it will only allow the public to use 60% of the year. We should also continue to question DNR’s initial claims that this new park would generate over $1 million in annual revenue. That will be difficult to accomplish if the park is only open a portion of the year. Perhaps that is why DNR is charging double the cabin rates of other state parks.

Once again, we must question the trustworthiness of anything DNR tells us about this “premier” state park.

Mike Gregory
Grantsville