The 68th Street Dump Superfund Site is located in Baltimore County in Rosedale, Maryland and consists of approximately 239 acres of altered and undeveloped land including filled wetlands, wetlands, open water, and surface water drainages within the Herring Run Watershed. Herring Run is tidally influenced for approximately 1 mile and drains to the Back River, which flows into the Patapsco River and eventually to the Chesapeake Bay. Past operations at the site include state-permitted landfilling with disposal of a variety of commercial, industrial, and municipal wastes, such as waste oils, and municipal incinerator ash. Hazardous substances on site include a suite of volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and metals. Pesticides and dioxins are present in the landfill and wetland areas in the eastern portion of the Site.

In 2003, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) listed the 68th Street Dump Site on the National Priorities List (NPL). The NPL is a list of hazardous waste sites that may pose long-term human health or environmental risks requiring investigation under the Superfund Program. In May 2006, the EPA and 19 settling parties signed a Consent Agreement to conduct the investigation and evaluation of cleanup options following EPA’s Superfund Alternative Site (SAS) process. EPA, the Settling Parties, and the Maryland Department of the Environment completed a Non-Time Critical Removal Action in June 2009 to remove hazardous debris from the surface of the 68th Street Site landfills.

In 2017 the Natural Resource Trustees including the DOI (FWS), NOAA, and the State of Maryland entered into a Consent Decree with the settling parties, which included on-site restoration work in conjunction with the EPA-approved remediation actions, compensation to the trustees for past and future costs related to the natural resource damage assessment and restoration planning and implementation, and $630,000 to fund additional restoration. Trustees finalized a Restoration Plan in June 2020 to restore 109 acres of native hardwood forest within the greater 625-acre Belt Woods Natural Environment Area in Prince George’s County, Maryland for long-term stewardship and conservation by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.

The Trustees continue to coordinate with EPA and the settling parties on remediation and on-site restoration activities, which are ongoing. Restoration planning at Belt Woods continues.