Eastern Shore Land Conservancy (ESLC) recently celebrated two new conservation easements on the farms of Donald and Susan Harris, and their sons Dustin and Daniel. Officially closed on the week before Veteran’s Day, the conservation easements will forever protect and honor the prime farmland and agricultural heritage once stewarded by Donald  Harris’s father, Lloyd Benson Harris, a World War II veteran who survived D-Day in 1944 and later returned home to take care of the family farm. 

Over the course of many generations, the Harris family has produced sweet corn, peas, lima beans,  tomatoes, dairy, eggs, hogs, and now grain. When asked what led him to put the farms under easement with ESLC, Don Harris immediately recalled his hardworking father, who asked him to  keep the farm forever. “If you get rid of it, it’s gone forever. Don’t you get rid of this ground,”  Lloyd told his son, “Once it’s gone, it’s gone.” Lloyd turned down large offers from realtors and developers as far back as 1982, providing Don the opportunity to farm the family’s property for more than 50 years. ESLC’s conservation easement will now continue to keep the farm in production in perpetuity.  

The 137-acre conservation easement at Emerson’s Green Close, the Harris’ Caroline County farm,  protects 124 acres of prime agricultural soils as well as scenic road frontage all within the Tuckahoe  Rural Legacy Area. 1,915 acres of protected land are located within one mile of the farm, with several thousand more in the nearby vicinity including ESLC’s conservation easement at the historic  Daffin House. This contiguous conservation creates a strong corridor of green space and wildlife  habitat surrounding the Tuckahoe.  

Also located within the Tuckahoe Rural Legacy Area, the 45-acre conservation easement on the  Harris’ Talbot County farm protects prime agricultural soils used for grain production as well as  more than 21 acres of woodlands depended upon by increasingly rare forest interior dwelling bird  species. Maryland’s Rural Legacy Program preserves large, contiguous tracts of land to enhance  natural resource, agricultural, forestry and environmental protection.  

ESLC would like to thank Maryland Department of Natural Resources, Donald and Susan Harris,  and their sons Dustin and Daniel for their support and contributions to regional conservation on  Maryland’s Eastern Shore. To learn more about conservation easements and Maryland’s Rural  Legacy Program, including whether your property may qualify, please contact ESLC’s Director of  Land Conservation David Satterfield at [email protected].  

Established in 1990, Eastern Shore Land Conservancy’s mission is to conserve, steward, and advocate for the  unique rural landscape of Maryland’s Eastern Shore, forever a special place of diverse and abundant natural  resources and thriving rural communities.

 In July 2014, Eastern Shore Land Conservancy (ESLC), the Girl Scouts  of the Chesapeake Bay (GSCB) Council, and Maryland DNR worked together to protect 170 acres of the  Camp Grove Point Girl Scout Camp in Cecil County through a permanent conservation easement. In 2022,  the GSCB council made the difficult decision to sell Camp Grove Point. GSCB approached ESLC for help,  wanting to sell to someone who would preserve the entire camp. 

ESLC formally purchased the camp last month and will assist DNR in its restoration of the property to a  more natural state. Ultimately, ESLC will transfer the camp to DNR as an addition to Grove Farm Wildlife  Management Area (WMA). Grove Farm WMA is managed by the Wildlife and Heritage Service, whose  mission is to “conserve and enhance diverse wildlife populations and associated habitats while providing for  public enjoyment of the State’s wildlife resources through hunting and other wildlife-dependent recreation.” 

Once transferred to DNR, ESLC will continue to steward the property’s permanent conservation easement.  “That was so instrumental for us—to be able to share our Camp Grove Point with someone who would take  care of it and preserve the camp as green space in perpetuity,” said GSCB CEO Claudia Peña Porretti.  “That’s why we made this decision to sell to Eastern Shore Land Conservancy because we knew that you all  would love the property just as much as we do. It’s a win-win. We couldn’t have asked for a better outcome.” 

The annexation of Grove Point to the Grove Farm WMA is yet another preservation success for greater  Grove Neck. Approximately 5,953 acres of the 6,158-acre peninsula are currently protected, including 1,716  acres conserved by ESLC. Camp Grove Point is connected to the larger conservation area by the 242-acre  Missionary Servants of the Most Holy Trinity property purchased by ESLC and subsequently transferred to  the State as an addition to the Grove Farm WMA in 2021. “Thanks to ESLC’s close relationship with the  Girl Scouts of the Chesapeake, we were well poised to assist their leadership in finding a conservation minded solution for the sale of Camp Grove Neck,” commented ESLC’s Director of Land Conservation  David Satterfield. “We are excited to have worked with the Girl Scouts and DNR to ensure that many  generations can enjoy the natural beauty of this spectacular property.” 

ESLC President and CEO Steve Kline added, “Increasing and improving public access is a priority for  Eastern Shore Land Conservancy across our region. Grove Neck is a great opportunity to work with key  partners like Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources and the Girl Scouts of the Chesapeake to bring  hundreds of additional acres to the public, to enjoy hiking, hunting, fishing, and wildlife watching.” 

Originally called Double Goose Farm, Camp Grove Point was purchased in 1948 and opened to campers the  following year. Since then, the camp has served not only thousands of Girl Scouts, visitors, and volunteers,  but thousands of native flora and fauna throughout its freshwater wetlands, woodlands, and beaches. One hundred-foot vegetative buffer strips on the property protect the water quality of the Sassafras River and the  Chesapeake Bay. Open meadows and 85 acres of upland forest full of sassafras and beech trees provide  habitat for numerous migratory bird species. The camp also protects 2,500 feet of scenic waterfront including  rare sand and clay cliff beaches home to federally endangered Puritan tiger beetles, whose declining  populations exist only along the Connecticut River Valley and the Chesapeake Bay.  

Established in 1990, Eastern Shore Land Conservancy’s mission is to conserve, steward, and advocate for the  unique rural landscape of Maryland’s Eastern Shore, forever a special place of diverse and abundant natural  resources and thriving rural communities.

Solar siting legislation was unsuccessful in advancing during the 2024 General Assembly session, preventing Maryland from crafting a formal solar energy plan for streamlining perceived obstacles and codifying uniform standards. A group of key stakeholders has now worked for months to craft a solar siting proposal for Maryland’s 2025 General Assembly session that would serve as a basis for legislation to come. One of the key components of the group’s new proposal is a 4-mile-wide solar corridor adjacent to high powered transmission lines throughout the state. Counties would be required to process permits for solar development as a “by right” use within the corridor, meaning solar developers would receive faster approvals, reduced costs, and increased predictability but counties would forfeit the ability to exert more oversight of projects. Statewide, this corridor comprises 2,886,526 acres of land. 75% of the lands identified within this proposed solar corridor are located within various state-designated preservation areas. For some regions on the Eastern Shore, that percentage is as high as 96%.

Eastern Shore Land Conservancy was not invited to attend meetings with this group of stakeholders but were kept apprised of proceedings by various members. In response to the group’s proposal, ESLC spearheaded a letter signed by numerous land conservancy advocates across the state to offer feedback in hopes of making key changes prior to introduction this legislative session. The letter emphasizes the importance of upholding public trust, the need for specificity on state-owned lands, and a request for more robust mitigation. 

The current draft proposal attempts to acknowledge Maryland’s conservation goals by mandating a $3,500 per acre mitigation fee for projects sited within a preservation area. However, for true mitigation to occur, site specific impacts need to be more carefully considered. Rather than a flat mitigation fee, the fees assessed should reflect regional variations in land value. The proposed flat mitigation fees are also only applied to projects that occur in designated preservation areas. These preservation areas, identified as the most important in the state for historic, cultural, agricultural or environmental reasons, are worthy of even more robust protection than a flat mitigation fee. Our letter also argues that mitigation fees should be applied to any solar development project (regardless of the land’s preservation status) due to inevitable land use disruption and impacts to agricultural production.

Will Maryland need to develop preserved land in order to meet its renewable energy goals? 727,943 acres of the lands mapped within the working group’s proposed solar corridor are actually located outside of designated preservation areas. And this number well exceeds any existing estimates for how much land will be needed for Maryland to achieve its current solar goals. Identifying and avoiding areas that are key to conservation and preservation can be a useful tool to help guide solar development to the most appropriate places – from both a cultural and environmental perspective. The stakeholders’ current proposed plan to site solar based solely upon transmission line locations and then require a flat mitigation fee for compromising preservation areas does little to disincentivize developers from siting projects on important open space.

In the working group’s proposed corridor map, identified preservation areas include Rural Legacy Areas, Priority Preservation Areas, and Targeted Ecological Areas (TEAs). (While the working group did not include conservation easement acreage in their total sum of affected preservation areas, protection of conservation easements needs to be more explicitly stated.) These areas have received special designation for preservation because of the unique attributes they possess. For example, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources calls Targeted Ecological Areas (TEAs) “lands and watersheds of high ecological value that have been identified as conservation priorities for natural resource protection. These areas represent the most ecologically valuable areas in the state: they are the best of the best. The purpose of TEAs is to protect ecologically important lands, address issues with forest fragmentation, habitat degradation, and water quality, and promote shared responsibility for land conservation.” On the Eastern Shore of Maryland, over 218,000 acres of these precious TEAs fall within the proposed solar corridor.  

Similarly, Maryland’s Rural Legacy Program preserves large, contiguous tracts of land to enhance natural resource, agricultural, forestry and environmental protection while supporting a sustainable land base for natural resource-based industries such as forestry and agriculture. Statewide, 431,364.87 acres of Rural Legacy areas fall within the proposed solar corridor—102,321 acres of which are within Eastern Shore Rural Legacy areas. Accelerating solar energy development on designated preservation areas backsteps our communal work towards numerous land conservation goals including the 40% by 2040 goal from the Maryland the Beautiful Act of 2023, the Chesapeake Bay Agreement’s additional two-million-acre land conservation goal by 2025, and President Biden’s executive order to conserve 30% of the country’s lands and waters by 2030.

While the renewable energy provided by solar developments can positively impact our current climate crisis, the conservation of undeveloped land and its myriad ecosystem services (from carbon sequestration to flood mitigation to water quality protection) is equally essential for achieving our climate goals. Solar installations can disrupt land preservation efforts by impacting ecosystems, wildlife habitats, and agricultural areas if they are not carefully sited. Large-scale solar farms require extensive land, which can lead to habitat destruction, fragmentation of ecosystems, and threats to biodiversity. Additionally, placing solar projects on prime agricultural land can reduce the space available for food production, affecting both local economies and food security. Conversely—blocking all solar development would continue to make our communities reliant upon nonrenewable energy. Exclusively committing to a single endeavor—only solar development or only conservation easements—can prevent essential services. This is not a lesser of two evils. It’s a balance of two goods. Finding the right tension between modes of conservation and sustainable development is key. ESLC is committed to fostering this balance through advocacy and continued close monitoring throughout the legislative session.  

Local governments on the Eastern Shore are under increasing  pressure to grow through development to meet the rising demands for public services, including  education, housing, infrastructure maintenance, and climate change adaptation. But Eastern Shore  communities already struggle financially to provide basic services with current property tax revenue  levels. This financial strain hampers their ability to build more connected, affordable, and  environmentally sustainable communities, ultimately affecting the quality of life for residents. In response to these challenges, the Eastern Shore Land Conservancy (ESLC) invites community  members, stakeholders, and local government officials to attend “Sustainable by Design: Urban3  Land Use Analysis on the Eastern Shore.” Over the past year, ESLC has partnered with Urban3, a  firm specializing in land use analysis, to study land use patterns across eight counties on Maryland’s  Eastern Shore. Urban3’s data and impressive modeling maps reveal the varying value of land use  investments for local governments, both rural and urban. Their analysis uses a “value per acre”  measurement, which contrasts public investment in infrastructure and services with property tax  revenues. 

ESLC will host two informative events on Tuesday, October 22, where attendees can learn more  about the findings and implications of Urban3’s analysis. These events will foster a deeper  understanding of land use value and encourage discussions on sustainable development practices. 

Event Details: 

• The Packing House in Cambridge | Tuesday October 22at 10 AM 
• Chesapeake College in Wye Mills | Tuesday October 22 at 3 PM 
• Registration: https://www.eslc.org/sustainable-by-design-urban3/

We hope you can attend either event to explore how we can support more sustainable and vibrant  communities on the Eastern Shore.  

Established in 1990, Eastern Shore Land Conservancy’s mission is to conserve, steward, and  advocate for the unique rural landscape of Maryland’s Eastern Shore, forever a special place  of diverse and abundant natural resources and thriving rural communities.

Originally farmland, Oxford Conservation Park was designated  to become a subdivision before Talbot County’s former Director of Parks and Recreation, Preston  Peper, Talbot County Engineer Bill Wolinski, and a team of community stakeholders worked  together to plan and create a public park where anyone from the community could go to walk and  enjoy nature. Now this warren of wetlands and meadows is enjoyed every day by birders, walkers,  photographers, and visitors of all ages. Soon it will offer even more.  

In 2023, the Friends of Oxford Conservation Park volunteer group approached Eastern Shore Land  Conservancy with their concerns over the condition of the park’s habitat, asking for ESLC’s  help. ESLC’s Enhanced Stewardship Manager Larisa Prezioso then began working with Talbot  County Parks and Recreation, Washington College’s Natural Lands Project, and the Friends of  Oxford Conservation Park to help enhance the existing habitat in need of maintenance and  restoration. In addition to the collaborative efforts to keep present grasslands healthy and forests  diverse, the partnership worked together to pursue funding for the completion of the initial park  plan. Activating this plan will result in converting the park’s remaining thirty acres from row crops  to passive recreational grasslands and trails. As of this summer, Washington College’s Natural Lands  Project, which has converted 80 sites and thousands of acres of marginal cropland across the Shore into diverse native meadows, wetlands, and forests, has received funding from the Department of  Natural Resources Atlantic and Coastal Bays Trust Fund to initiate the expansion starting in the  spring of 2025.  

“This project is a great collaboration between our project, the Eastern Shore Land Conservancy,  Talbot County, and the Friends of Oxford Conservation Park,” said Kathy Thornton, Natural Lands  Project Field Technician, noting that each entity has certain resources they can contribute to the  effort. “Together, this makes for a strong project where we can manage existing habitat, create new  habitat, and sustain a long-term maintenance plan.” 

“Conservation does not happen in a bubble,” said Dan Small, the Natural Lands Project  Coordinator and Associate Director of Natural Land Stewardship at the Washington College Center  for Environment & Society. “By leveraging resources and enthusiasm from grant funds, non-profits,  volunteer groups, and County government, we’re able to turn public space into a sanctuary for both  people and wildlife,” said Small. 

The new 30-acre mix of native meadows will feature tree plantings and native short stature grasses  and wildflowers not found in the existing habitat, which is currently dominated by native tall grasses.  A network of walking trails will connect to and double the length of trails across the park. And new  educational signage will teach visitors about the many ecosystem services that these diverse native  meadows provide, including flood mitigation, prevention of soil erosion, and improved water quality  within the Chesapeake Bay watershed. 

Climate change resilience, expanded trails, and educational opportunities will be of huge benefit to  the public, but the real beneficiaries of this new project will be the wildlife. Once abundant on the 

Eastern Shore, low-lying early successional habitats like grasslands, fallow fields, meadows and  prairies have become increasingly rare. The rarer the meadows, the rarer the unique suite of wildlife  that depends upon them—species like field sparrows, woodcocks, warblers, turtles, salamanders, and  fireflies. Small and Thornton’s main focus is creating habitat to support another meadow-lover:  Northern Bobwhite quail. A few quail have been sighted at the park recently and the team is hopeful  that this new habitat expansion will ultimately support a healthy breeding population. 

When supporting early successional species like quail, the overall footprint of the habitat is crucial.  Adding these next thirty acres will create larger habitat areas that can support more individuals.  Small and Thornton explain, “Most grassland birds prefer to establish territories and nests away  from wooded edges, so meadows with larger interior space away from forest edges is beneficial.”  More space also bolsters population growth of threatened birds because there are more nooks and  crannies to hide nests, making it harder for predators to find them. No child playing hide and seek  would choose to hide in a small manicured front yard over a wide and rambling weedy backyard  garden. Now the OCP quail coveys are finally getting the sprawling warren of a garden they deserve.  And the grassy paths winding through the new meadow’s wildflowers and warm-season grasses will  encourage people to get lost in the glorious thick-of-it too, finding all sorts of flora and fauna  surprises along the way.  

“Truly, this work would not have happened without the passion and advocacy of the Friends of  Oxford Conservation Park,” said Prezioso. “Having a dedicated and engaged group of volunteer  citizens not only provides such an asset to the park’s long-term care, but also demonstrates that  

having ecological, passive-recreational spaces is something that’s valuable to our community, and  worth advocating for.” 

Established in 1990, Eastern Shore Land Conservancy’s mission is to conserve, steward, and advocate for the  unique rural landscape of Maryland’s Eastern Shore, forever a special place of diverse and abundant natural  resources and thriving rural communities.

Eastern Shore Land Conservancy is pleased to welcome Kate  Rumbaugh to the organization’s board of directors. Rumbaugh’s 30+ years of experience in public  policy and government affairs on the federal, state, and local levels will support ESLC’s growing  portfolio of policy work. “Kate’s deep expertise in policy, advocacy, and communications is an  important addition to the Eastern Shore Land Conservancy Board of Directors,” commented ESLC  President and CEO Steven Kline. “As we seek to increase our engagement with decision makers,  Kate’s voice, expertise, and bipartisan approach to problem solving will be invaluable.” 

“ESLC’s work in the policy arena can really complement and grow our conservation efforts overall,”  commented Rumbaugh. “Sharing information with public policy makers so that they know our concerns is like having a neighbor understand you, understand what’s important to you, and  understand how we can all work together in the same community serving the same people.” 

Jim Mullin, chair of the ESLC board of directors added, “We are thrilled to have Kate join us on the  board, where she has jumped right in to the work. Building a board with expertise that reflects the  full scope of our work is essential. Kate’s policy and communications skills will improve the  effectiveness of Eastern Shore Land Conservancy.”  

Currently the Head of Government Affairs for Doordash, Rumbaugh is an alum of the University of  Maryland, and has also studied at the Prince of Wales’s Business & Sustainability Programme at The  University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, and the Conflict Resolution workshop at the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School. Rumbaugh first became familiar with the Chesapeake Bay as a child—boating, fishing, waterskiing, and crabbing with her father when he was stationed there. “Coming over here to be closer to the Bay and away from a busy  city is something that I’ve wanted to do for some time,” Rumbaugh commented, “I finally found the  right place to do it.” 

Now happily settled in St. Michaels, she is “tremendously honored to have been appointed to the board,” where she can learn more about local land conservation on both an organizational and personal level. “I see the fragility of the Eastern Shore. If left to our own devices I’m not sure everybody would share the need or understanding for preserving it. It’s good to be able to help advance that notion and create better understanding for the need to preserve. There are always competing pressures—the growth of communities versus preserving communities. We’re in an area of growth that makes those competing priorities difficult. Focus and attention in this space is  increasingly more important than ever.” 

Established in 1990, Eastern Shore Land Conservancy’s mission is to conserve, steward, and advocate for the  unique rural landscape of Maryland’s Eastern Shore, forever a special place of diverse and abundant natural  resources and thriving rural communities.

Eastern Shore Land Conservancy (ESLC) closed on a 339-acre conservation easement owned by the Jones Family in Dorchester County. Nestled between two existing ESLC easements and an expansive Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation (MALPF) easement, this final stretch of forest creates a 4,000-acre corridor of protected lands. As he looks forward to sharing the natural beauty of these woodlands with many future generations, avid wildlife manager Ben Jones is delighted “to know that when we’re not around it’s going to be the way it is or better than we left it.”

The Jones’s woodland property falls within the Southeastern Forest Legacy Area, identified by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources as a forest of high economic, environmental, and societal importance. Once threatened by fragmentation and conversion, the property is now protected for perpetuity, safeguarding habitat for Delmarva fox squirrels, deer, groundhogs, foxes, and forest interior dwelling bird species like tanagers, ovenbirds, and pine warblers. The easement’s silt-loam soil anchors abundant pine responsibly managed through a forest stewardship plan.

Located within the Chesapeake Bay Critical Area, the new easement provides an essential buffer for the Transquaking River, a 23-mile-long Chesapeake Bay tributary left notoriously vulnerable to nutrient pollution. In addition to aiding in Maryland’s clean water goals, large woodlands provide a number of services to the entire surrounding community and ecosystem. The forest will help to prevent flooding and soil erosion, sequester carbon, prevent light pollution, and shelter wildlife including the property’s recent abundance of wild turkeys.

If one large tree provides four people a one-day supply of oxygen, then this easement provides clean air and safe breathing for the Jones’s entire community and beyond. “We have a number of farms and every one of them has been put in preservation,” noted Ben’s father Skip Jones. “Everything we’ve ever done, every land we’ve ever bought, we’ve put into preservation. Our heart is in the soil.”

ESLC is grateful to the Jones family, the U.S. Navy, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and The Nature Conservancy for their technical and financial support of this project. To learn more about conservation easement programs please contact ESLC’s director of land conservation, David Satterfield, at dsatterfield@eslc.org.

Established in 1990, Eastern Shore Land Conservancy’s mission is to conserve, steward, and advocate for the unique rural landscape of the Eastern Shore. ESLC works to forever protect this special place of diverse and abundant natural resources and thriving rural communities.

The Eastern Shore Land Conservancy (ESLC) is excited to announce a new conservation easement in Dorchester County. The property, owned by Ed “Biff” Burns, protects 589 acres of land southeast of Cambridge. The permanent protection of the property helps to secure the agricultural and natural resources of the region, with approximately 227 acres planted in grain and 363 acres held in woodlands, with many qualifying as forested wetlands. The woodlands are especially important, as they provide significant habitat for Forest Interior Dwelling Species (FIDS), including woodpeckers, thrushes, and nuthatches, as well as Delmarva fox squirrel.

Mr. Burns grows grain in Dorchester and Wicomico Counties. Dr. Candy Burns, Biff’s late wife, was a driving force behind conserving the farm, a goal that Biff remained steadfast in honoring even after her passing in 2021. He hopes that the farm will continue to be enjoyed as a great place for farming and hunting for he and his family.

ESLC would like to thank the Burns family for its contribution to regional conservation. We’d also like to recognize and thank our partners in this endeavor: the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife (via the North American Wetland Conservation Act; NAWCA). Their technical and financial assistance was key to securing this beautiful farm for generations to come.

To learn about conservation easement programs, including whether your property may qualify, please contact ESLC’s director of land conservation, David Satterfield, at [email protected].

To learn more about the U.S. Navy Conservation Program in Maryland, check out the Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration (REPI) program page at: https://www.repi.mil/. To learn more about the NAWCA program, check out their home page at: https://www.fws.gov/program/north-american-wetlands-conservation.