ESLC Closes First Conservation Easement Through Chesapeake WILD Funds 

 

The Eastern Shore Land Conservancy is celebrating the 339th conservation easement with 170 acres protected forever in Dorchester County near the Nanticoke River. Owned by Reggie and Kathy Sellers and their son, Reggie Sellers III, this easement consists of 135 acres of agricultural land and 35 acres of woodlands along Chicone Creek, a tributary of the Nanticoke River. Reggie III, who lives and works on the farm, is included in the existing chain of title, reflecting a deliberate approach to long-term, multigenerational stewardship. 

The Sellers are 4th-generation farmers and for their family, this easement reflects a much deeper commitment than land management alone. As Kathy Sellers explains, “You’ve got to love the land. In order for people to keep it, they’ve got to love the land.” She acknowledged that selling land may often yield more immediate financial gain, but preserving the area’s heritage is more important in the long run. 

This particular property stands out for several reasons – its funding source, its location within a Chesapeake Bay Critical Area, and its potential to support several rare, threatened, and endangered species. 

One of the most remarkable aspects of this project is the combination of funding sources that made it possible. The Sellers’ easement is the first project completed under ESLC’s inaugural award from the Chesapeake Watershed Investments for Landscape Defense Act, also known as Chesapeake WILD. Signed into law in 2020, the Act launched a new U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service program focused on strengthening habitat and climate resilience throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed. ESLC received its first WILD award in 2024 for its project, Protecting Habitat Migration Corridors Between Blackwater and the Nanticoke River Watershed. Under this project, ESLC plans to implement conservation easements on privately-owned, highly resilient lands within the Nanticoke River watershed which could act as receiving areas for wildlife migrating inland in response to climate change impacts. With more than 2,100 acres of protected lands within one mile, the property strengthens an already significant network of conserved landscapes in the Nanticoke region. 

The WILD funding was used to leverage funding from the U.S. Navy’s Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration (REPI) program to fully fund the Sellers’ conservation easement. The Navy’s REPI program, based out of Patuxent Naval Air Station (NAS), is aimed at protecting the naval mission in the region by limiting development, and thus limiting community impact under their airspace. 

This easement also holds particular significance because 79 acres of the property fall within a Chesapeake Bay Critical Area, an area that falls within 1,000 feet of tidal waters and is designated under state and county regulations designed to safeguard water quality, protect wildlife habitat, and maintain the natural character of the Bay region. By placing this land under a conservation easement, the Sellers family is ensuring permanent protection that aligns fully with Dorchester County’s Critical Area Program and plays an important role in keeping the Chesapeake Bay’s waterways and ecosystems healthy. 

Finally, the Sellers property contains habitat that has the potential to support rare, threatened, and endangered species. Portions of the land fall within the Chicone Woods Natural Heritage Area and a Wetland of Special State Concern which are areas that have been identified as home to important ecological communities. The Sellers’ property provides potential habitat for species such as long-bristle Indian grass and cream tick-trefoil. 

Thanks to the Sellers family, along with the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s Chesapeake WILD program, this landscape is now protected forever, preserving water quality, wildlife habitat, and agricultural heritage for generations to come.