Wilhelmina “Minny” Pohlmann, a Frederick County (MD) environmental advocate who was instrumental in staving off development at the base of scenic Sugarloaf Mountain, died June 8, 2011 at Homewood at Crumland Farms in Frederick of a stroke. She was 92.
Sugarloaf is a lone, 1,280-foot mountain that rises abruptly from the orchards and rolling fields of hay and corn below. Crisscrossed by trails, the hill has been protected since 1946 as a privately owned, publicly accessible recreation area through a trust established by Gordon Strong, a wealthy Chicago banker.
The mantle of picturesque farms surrounding the mountain, however, has long been viewed as prime land for development within commuting distance of Washington. Mrs. Dickerson, who lived on one of those farms for more than 40 years, spent decades working to protect the character of her rural community.
An assistant planner for Frederick County in the 1960s and 70s, she put her knowledge of the zoning code to use in her efforts to preserve open space. She successfully down-zoned wide swaths of land from industrial use to open space. She also was part of a movement that persuaded the state to establish the Monocacy Natural Resources Area southwest of Sugarloaf.
She spent thousands of her own dollars to buy acreage with full development rights, then tacked on a conservation easement that reduced the resale value but protected the land in perpetuity.
Mrs. Pohlmann was the recipient of numerous awards for her advocacy and volunteerism.
She said the nicest thing she ever heard came from the mouth of an opponent, according to the 1987 book “Bay Country,” by environmental writer Tom Horton. During a public hearing on protecting yet another tract near Sugarloaf, a developer pointed his finger at her and said, “Minny Pohlmann, this is all your fault.”
Wilhelmina van de Wall was born March 30, 1919, in Washington, where her father, a Dutch musician, was working as a harpist in the Wilson White House.
Until she was 6, she lived in Holland and New York and spoke only Dutch. Her family settled in Allentown, Pa., where she learned English and graduated from high school. She received a bachelor’s degree in community planning from Columbia University Teachers College. She received a nursing degree from Columbia in 1943.
In 1944, she moved with her husband to the Washington area, where she worked as a community health nurse with the USO nursery and the D.C. health department. During the 1950s, she was an office administrator and nurse at Green Acres School in Bethesda.
The Pohlmanns’ three-year-old son, Kepi, died from cancer in 1948, and after a period of grief and reflection, they left the city for rural life. They raised cattle, horses, goats and hay on a 172-acre farm that straddled the boundary between Frederick and Montgomery counties.
Besides her environmental advocacy involving Sugarloaf, Mrs. Pohlmann worked to clean up the Potomac River watershed as a longtime member of the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin and the Maryland State Water Quality Advisory Committee.
She and others launched a successful fight against the proposed Sixes Bridge Dam on the Monocacy River, a Potomac tributary, which would have created a 12-mile-long reservoir and inundated more than 3,000 acres of farmland. She also lobbied for protection of the C&O Canal as a national historic park in the early 1970s, and later in support of restoring the Monocacy Aqueduct.
In 1995, Mrs. Pohlmann described herself as a “little old lady in tennis shoes” while introducing President Bill Clinton before an address at Rock Creek Park during which he promised to veto a Republican revision of the Clean Water Act. “This country,” Clinton declared when he took the microphone, “would be better off if we had a few more little old ladies in tennis shoes, don’t you think?”
Her husband, Kenneth E. Pohlmann, died in 1976. A stepdaughter, Florence McIntyre, and a stepson, David Pohlmann, died in 1972 and 2001, respectively.
Survivors include a daughter, Blanca Poteat, who lives near Dickerson; a stepson, Kenneth E. Pohlmann Jr. of Melbourne, Fla.; 11 grandchildren; and eight great-grandchildren.
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