Residents along the Route 1 corridor including in College Park, University Park and Hyattsville, are organizing to save a forested area slated for a new development.

In a new community-organized effort called Save Guilford Woods, residents are seeking to stop a proposed housing development along the Guilford Run stream just south of Campus Drive in College Park.

The University of Maryland and Gilbane Development plan to cut down trees on the wooded 15-acre property to build townhomes and graduate housing where hikers often spot deer and other wildlife.

But neighbors argue that the proposal would remove one of the last wooded areas near campus and hurt water quality, when other nearby sites are available for redevelopment.

“The proposed project is driven by outdated priorities and a ‘business as usual’ approach and is inconsistent with basic principles of sustainable development,” they write on the Save Guilford Woods website.

To join the effort, you can sign a petition calling on University of Maryland President Darryll Pines to halt the project, send your own letter to key decision makers and sign up for the group’s email notifications.