Behind the Scenes: ESLC's 2025 Monitoring Season

Over the course of 2025, ESLC has monitored more than 334 conservation easements, covering 58,000 acres of protected land from Cecil County to Dorchester County. Through snow, rain, heat, and storms we’ve traveled the landscape by foot, four-wheeler, truck, and drone providing conservation resources to landowners and making sure that conservation standards are being upheld. With only two staff members dedicated to these visits and almost 100 more easements than there are workdays in the calendar year — this is no small feat! But it also keeps our small-but-mighty team directly connected to flora, fauna, farmers, and community members and helps to maintain ESLC’s first-hand understanding of the Eastern Shore’s current conservation challenges and successes on a daily basis.

From geese on a quiet sandbar in Kent County to the frozen Choptank, here are some of this year’s sweeping views that ESLC has been so grateful to protect:

Looking down is looking up – in the middle of a mixed pine and hardwood forest in Dorchester County just southwest of Cambridge, an isolated pond makes a perfect refuge for wood ducks.

An early morning sunrise captures the beauty of a Turner’s Creek waterfront that Monet would be inspired by (see the American white water lilies!). The water transitions to a tree-lined buffer, which transitions to fields supporting both wildlife habitat and working farmland.

A sub-freezing morning in January captures the dormant, sleepy beauty of snow-covered farmland in Caroline County, seen from above the frozen Choptank River.

Cattle in lush pasture enjoy a warm, sunny October afternoon on Andelot Farm in Kent County.

Just because it’s fall doesn’t mean beach days are over – especially if you’re a Canada goose. Sand bars along shorelines provide the perfect hangout spot for a goose to rest and catch some rays. ESLC protects thousands of acres of vital waterfowl habitat across the Eastern Shore.

A weathered garage that feels particularly Dorchester-County-chic sits along the Little Choptank River on a warm day in May.

Hoghole Creek in all its summer glory provides a calm refuge for submerged aquatic vegetation against the more active Prospect Bay.

Years of saltwater intrustion and sea level rise create ghost forest wetlands in the lower parts of Dorchester County. Decomposition of organic matter and iron-oxidizing bacteria can create a sheen on the surface of marshy waters – a byproduct of methane that shatters along the surface of water like glass when disturbed.

Weathered from over 80 years of standing on the shoreline of the Miles River, this cedar boathouse has endured many lightning strikes and has provided refuge for many generations of nesting barn swallows.

Is this ESLC’s branding color-palette, or a drone photo of our Eastern Shore landscape in the spring? It’s both! One of the most “Yup, that’s the Eastern Shore!” photos one could take. Taken outside of Rock Hall, Swan Creek winds through the photo, leading to the greater Chesapeake Bay waters. This gorgeous conserved landscape, comprised of so much working land and water interface, shows exactly why we do what we do!

Our monitoring drone reveals a moody aerial view of a wintry pine stand outside Eldorado. The woodlands were recently harvested in accordance with the farm’s forest stewardship plan.

Marshes in autumn bloom along the Tuckahoe.

Pigs wriggle into a cozy pile on a Grasonville homestead.

This sheep spotted us taking monitoring photos on a conserved farm in Kent County and clearly understood the assignment.

A shady lane leads the way to sunny Possum Point outside of Centreville. A benefit of many ESLC conservation easements is their perpetual protection of the Eastern Shore's scenic beauty, whether enjoyed from trails, roadways, or waterways

A gradient of summer sunflowers seamlessly transitions to a corn field on Bennett Point.

A family’s simple respite sits quietly beside the Tuckahoe on a property conserved in Caroline County.

Man’s best friend is ready for a perfect day on the Chester River. This Kent County conservation easement protects 40 acres of woodland, providing diverse habitat for wildlife and ample buffers along Long Creek, a known historic concentration area for migratory waterfowl.

A quaint barn on Quaker Neck sports solar on its rooftop. Unlike the commercial solar developments encroaching on the Eastern Shore’s prime farmland, this rooftop installation sits away from the farm’s productive soils while directly powering on-farm operations.

Quiet outbuildings shelter farm equipment at Barnett Farm, the first farm in Talbot County to be conserved by Eastern Shore Land Conservancy in 1992.