On Monday, Sept. 21, Chesapeake Forum offers a rare 90-minute walking tour of privately owned Dorsey Farm in Easton, led by Eastern Shore Land Conservancy President and CEO Steve Kline and Easement Stewardship Manager Michael Dunmyer Ports.
Earlier this year, Donna and Len Bush donated a perpetual conservation easement on 126 acres of the farm to ESLC. The easement permanently protects 74 acres of farmland, 16 acres of woodlands, 19 acres of grasslands, multiple waterfowl impoundments, and 6,823 linear feet of frontage on Leeds Creek, a tributary of the Miles River. The land stays in private ownership; future development is limited.
The tour looks at what happens after the papers are signed: living shoreline work on Leeds Creek, reforestation, erosion control, and habitat for waterfowl, Delmarva fox squirrel, and grassland birds including bobwhite quail. Kline and Ports will explain how a voluntary easement works and how stewardship continues from one generation to the next.
Kline has called the Bushes’ work an “ever-evolving lifetime project” of stewardship. The visit also offers a first look at the setting for ESLC’s annual Party to Preserve, which the family will host at Dorsey Farm in October.
Discover the Legacy of Land Conservation meets Monday, Sept. 21, from 10:30 a.m.–noon at Dorsey Farm in Easton. The cost is $30. Because the farm is private property, directions will be sent to registered participants. Register at chesapeakeforum.org.
