Dorchester Co. land easement advances protection for animals, plants
DORCHESTER COUNTY, Md. – A 339-acre addition to Dorchester County’s land easements has now created about 4,000 continuous acres of protected agricultural space and forests.
Meeting Need
The land was historically part of Tudor Farms. An agreement between the Jones family, and the Eastern Shore Land Conservancy (ESLC) was made possible by the U.S. Navy’s environmental preparedness program, and the North American Wetlands Act.
ESLC President, Steve Kline, says the easement couldn’t come at a better time. “There is a lot of need for conservation in Dorchester County, as climate change and sea level rise continue to play out,” he said.
Protecting Plants and Critters
The Jones’ woodland property is included in the Southeastern Forest Legacy Area. It’s identified by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources as a forest of high economic and environmental importance. The ESLC says the land is home to Delmarva fox squirrels, deer, groundhogs, foxes, wild turkeys, and various bird species. In addition, the silt-loam soil anchors vast stretches of pine trees.
“Allowing animals to move across the landscape is really the number one thing we can do for climate adaptation for wildlife,” Kline said.
Additionally, the property is located within the Chesapeake Bay Critical Area. The ESLC says the new easement provides an important buffer of the Transquaking River, which has seen high levels of nutrient pollution. Forest land helps prevent flooding and soil erosion, capture carbon, and prevent light pollution.
“We do, in these easements, restrain traditional development that you might think of,” Kline said. “I think it’s more important for the public to understand that conservation easements are not only really dealing with strictly development rights. Really, they are about protecting the conservation value of that landscape.”
Mission Growing More Urgent
The ESLC works across six counties on the Eastern Shore, from Cecil to Dorchester. To date, the group has helped protect about 67,000 acres on 325 individual easement properties.
Kline says the ESLC’s work is only growing more urgent, especially in Dorchester County: places that were once dry most of the year, are now wet for some or most of the year; high marsh is transitioning to low marsh; and, low marsh is transitioning to open water.
“The Chesapeake Bay is rising, and Dorchester County is sinking. That’s a pretty damaging combination of things to happen,” Kline said. “Dorchester County, in terms of area, is just getting smaller. So, that’s probably the thing that people notice; nuisance flooding in Cambridge, and other towns that are just susceptible to that rising water.”
Salt Water Concerns
The threat of rising waters doesn’t just bring submersion concerns, either, Kline says. Salt water intrusion is damaging soils and plants. Agricultural crops, namely, corn, beans, wheat, and barley, will not grow on land that has been impacted by salt water intrusion, Kline says.
A prime example of the effects of salt water intrusion, though, can bee seen when crossing the Nanticoke River Bridge in northwestern Wicomico County: a ghost forest.
“Those trees are getting too much water, and too much salt water. They might still be green on top, but they’re sure enough dead. They just don’t know it yet. That’s eventually going to turn into marshland,” Kline explained. “Now we see that drainage systems are delivering salt water the other way; introducing salt water to the land in a way that really impacts the productivity of those soils.”
Looking Ahead
Looking ahead, Kline says the ESLC will continue to work hard to preserve as much land as possible.
“We need to provide that quilt, or that patchwork, of habitat types,” Kline said. “In most cases, it’s better to have 5,000 acres of contiguous habitat than 5,000 one-acre patches of habitat. That’s not going to meet the needs of the critters.”
