When the Talbot Spy first heard on Wednesday that St. Michaels businessman Bob Pascal had reached an agreement with Maryland to donate the development rights on his 950 acres of paradise between Bozman and Neavitt to the state, we knew we were on a big story. We just didn’t know how big it was. Gov. Martin O’Malley, Treasurer Nancy K. Kopp and Comptroller Peter Franchot, sitting as the state Board of Public Works, signed off that afternoon on agreements to put conservation easements on almost 2,000 acres of prime land, much of it waterfront, in Talbot, Queen Anne’s and Caroline Counties.
The Public Works Board, the landowners, the Maryland Environment Trust and the Eastern Shore Land Conservancy have combined to give the Chesapeake Bay and the people who live near it and love it, a grand Christmas present. Their actions have made sure that shorelines of Broad Creek and the Miles and Wye Rivers will not be overdeveloped. They have given us piece of mind that our beautiful Land of Pleasant Living will continue to be just that.
You only have to look at a Google Map of the Middle River outside of Baltimore or the South River below Annapolis to see what unchecked development can do to a once pristine area.
Thanks to Bob Pascal, Joan Murray, the owners of Yorktown Farms LLC and the other landowners who have preserved their land, large parts of the Eastern Shore will keep its rural heritage and working waterfronts alive into the future. You gifts are well received. Thank you very much.
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