Oxford Family Leaves Bequest to ESLC
Monies Being Used to Leverage Funding Sources to Fund Land Protection ESLC has announced the receipt of a generous bequest from the estates of William and Mary Thompson of Oxford. Most of the bequest will go toward ESLC’s Stewardship Endowment and matching funds that can be used to leverage County and Federal dollars to protect more farmland. In an effort to help increase and improve the options available for farmers wishing to protect their land, ESLC has dedicated $200,000 of the bequest to match County contributions towards Federal Farm and Ranchland Protection (FRPP) conservation easement purchases in Caroline, Cecil, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne’s, and Talbot Counties. Eastern Shore farms are critical to the region’s economy and rural way of life. Interest among farmers in selling development rights has outstripped available funding sources, and that trend is likely to increase as budgets tighten at the local and state level in the next few years. The FRPP program purchases conservation easements on highly productive farms meeting a rigorous set of criteria. The program pays for 50% of the value of development rights and requires a 50% match, 25% of which must be cash. Often landowners opt to donate remaining 25% of the easement value, and they can take a significant tax deduction for that gift. Using these dedicated private funds, ESLC will match County funds up to 12.5% of the conservation easement purchase price in order to make up the total 25% cash matching requirement. This small contribution of County funds would leverage 87.5% of the funds needed to purchase development rights on prime agricultural lands, bringing in $1.6 million for land protection in that county. In the recent past, Eastern Shore Land Conservancy has utilized these Federal dollars to protect highly productive farmland on the Marshyhope River and to assist local young farmers in purchasing