Eastern Shore Land Conservancy

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Mission Statement
Conserve, steward, and advocate for the unique rural landscape of the Eastern Shore.

ExcellenceITAC Accreditation
eastern shore maryland farmland conservation

September 2010

ESLC Hosts Native Plant Sale on Sunday, September 26

ESLC is hosting a Native Plant Sale on Sunday September 26, 2010 from noon until 4 p.m. Whether you are an easement owner looking to engage in restoration or an interested gardener who wants to add some natives to the garden, we have plants for you! Sale will be held at ESLC’s Galena Office, located at 100 S. Main Street in downtown Galena. Call 410-648-5840 for more detail! Come ready to buy plants and get some gardening advice.  All proceeds to benefit the efforts of Eastern Shore Land Conservancy.

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ESLC to Host Bird Walk Saturday

Please join us on September 25, 2010 for a guided bird walk in Easton. We will meet at 7 a.m. in the Waterside Village parking lot and carpool to Chesapeake Wildlife Heritage’s Bailey’s Neck property. We will walk the beautifully restored waterfowl impoundments and native grass and forested buffers on the property looking for migrant songbirds and early waterfowl. The bird walk will be guided by ESLC land protection specialist and life-long birder, Jared Parks. This property is not normally open to the public, so grab your binoculars and join us September 25th for a fun time. Cost is $10 for ESLC members and $15 for non-members, limit 25 participants. Call Jared at 443.988.8128 for more details. Sign up today - registration is sure to fill up fast!

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Place Work[s]hop Named Semi-Finalist in National Strong Communities Competition

Eastern Shore Land Conservancy (ESLC) announced today that Place Work[s]hop, a community project led by ESLC, Urban Dialogues and the town of East New Market has been selected as a semifinalist in the national competition "Strong Communities: Engaging Citizens, Strengthening Place, Inspiring Change." The national competition, held by CommunityMatters and Ashoka¡'s Changemakers features Place Work[s]hop as one of 24 semi-finalists in the competition.  The Strong Communities competition was designed to address problems and threats that face the vitality and quality of life in small towns and urban neighborhoods ¨C including one-size-fits-all development, decreasing social capital and disconnections between neighbors, struggling local economies, and rampant or sluggish growth. Place Work[s]hop was selected from among 260 entrants in the competition for the unique way it is helping to create positive change, address community challenges and build a more vibrant future.  Place Work[s]hop is a collaborative community design initiative founded by ESLC and Urban Dialogues, Inc. Designed for the specific needs of the Eastern Shore's small towns, Place Work[s]hop uses a process combining the local knowledge of the community with the design and planning knowledge of local architects, planners, preservationists, policy-makers and more. The entire community of East New Market gathered last fall to create a vision for their community which includes numerous drawings, input and ideas about the best strategies for helping East New Market become a vibrant small town once again. One result of the progress made from Place Work[s]hop is a community wide fundraising effort to purchase an historic home and park area Friendship Hall in the center of town.  "This is very exciting for an Eastern Shore project to be selected and we are so pleased to see East New Market's efforts to create a vision for the future of the town and the Shore get the recognition it deserves,"

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ESLC and Queen Anne’s County Partner to Protect 486 Acres of farmland

Eastern Shore Land Conservancy (ESLC) recently announced the permanent protection of 486 acres of farm, forest, and marshland in Queen Anne's County with the purchase of conservation easements on Brown's Branch Farm and Home Farm. Brown's Branch Farm is located on the northwest side of Church Hill and has a half of a mile of frontage along Route 213, which is the main spine of Chesapeake Country national scenic byway. The 218-acre farm consists of approximately 134 acres of tillable ground, 36 acres of wetlands, 43 forested acres, and a 5-acre farmstead area. The conservation easement permanently eliminates the possibility of 24 building lots on this productive farm. The easement will provide a forested stream buffer to protect the water quality of the adjoining Brown's Branch stream, which is home to an endangered freshwater mussel. Funding for this project came from a mutli-million dollar allocation from a federal transportation bill spearheaded by former Congressman Wayne Gilchrest for ESLC to protect the rural landscape along the Chesapeake Country byway corridor. Maryland State Highway Administration administers the federal funds and will reimburse Queen Anne's County for settlement of both easements. The landowner sold the conservation easement for 20 percent less than the appraised value, which was necessary to complete the easement. "This was a great opportunity for us to partner with Queen Anne's County to expand a protected greenbelt around Church Hill and ensure that important scenic areas along Chesapeake Country remain as open space for the continued enjoyment of byway travelers.," said Sandra Edwards, ESLC's Land Protection Specialist. "We are very grateful to both the landowner and Queen Anne's County for making this happen." The second protected property - Home Farm - is located near Kingstown in Queen Anne's County. The farm consists of 267 acres of which 238 acres are considered prime farmland. Situated

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Owsley Named ESLC Deputy Director

ESLC is pleased to announce the promotion of Amy Owsley to Deputy Director of the organization.  Owsley, who joined ESLC as its Director of Community Planning in 2001, has a Masters in Forest Science from Yale University, a Bachelor's in Earth Sciences from Pennsylvania State University, and was a Knauss Seagrant Fellow, Morris K Udall Congressional Scholar, and is a recent graduate of the National Conservation Leadership Program. She left ESLC in 2005 for a two year project with the Land Trust Alliance, where she led a coastwide conservation collaborative called the Maine Coast Protection Initiative. In Amy's time with ESLC before working in Maine, she created and led the original Eastern Shore 2010 initiative and launched a land use planning educational forum for the Shore.  "I am so pleased that Amy has accepted this new position within our organization," said Rob Etgen, ESLC’s Executive Director. "Amy knows our issues and institution, she has well established relationships with the ESLC staff, Board and the community, and she is especially well equipped to handle the new issues we will be facing as we head into our new strategic plan."  ESLC recently kicked off its new strategic plan – which runs from 2010-2015 –and will focus on towns, access to land and inviting a much broader segment of Eastern Shore residents, friends, and supporters into ESLC’s mission and work.  Amy, who splits her time between ESLC’s Queenstown and Cambridge offices. resides in Easton with her husband, Ryan Ewing and their infant son, Liam.

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