ESLC and Perdue Celebrate Land Protection Successes on the Shore at Dorchester Farm
Pictured from left are Dr. Jack Scanlon, recent CREP easement donor, ESLC Land Protection Specialist Jared Parks, ESLC Executive Director Rob Etgen and representatives from the Arthur W. Perdue Foundation including Executive Director Bill Hetherington and Dick Willey.Representatives from Eastern Shore Land Conservancy (ESLC) Perdue came together today to celebrate the protection of more than 1,300 acres of important Eastern Shore farmland during the 2010-2011 season. The celebration took place at the Scanlon Farm in Dorchester County, site of a recently added Conservation Reserve Program (CREP) easement.
ESLC is the local sponsor for the CREP program for both Caroline and Dorchester counties. The CREP program is a voluntary one that allows landowners to place permanent easements on their land to reduce the sediments and nutrients from runoff in the Chesapeake Bay and enhance wildlife habitats. This program allows landowners with acres currently enrolled in CREP contracts to place an easement on those acres. The easement is a one-time payment that permanently protects the land from future development. The acres covered by the easement are required to maintain buffer plantings to prevent run-off and protect water quality. In addition to CREP easements, ESLC has a variety of land protection options available to preserve the Eastern Shore’s farms, forests, fisheries and rich rural heritage for the benefit of future generations.
The Scanlon farm, owned by Jack and Kathleen Scanlon, is an ideal CREP easement because of its location near the Little Choptank River in Dorchester County. Thanks to a generous $25,000 grant from Perdue, through the Arthur W. Perdue Foundation, ESLC was able to work with the Scanlons and numerous other families throughout the Shore to help protect their land forever from development.
“Preserving farmland in perpetuity is the foundation of Eastern Shore Land Conservancy’s efforts to protect the Shore’s rural character and the grant from the Perdue helped us in our efforts to protect over 1,300 acres just last year alone,” said ESLC Executive Director Rob Etgen. “CREP easements like those on the Scanlon Farm are an important piece of the preservation puzzle, protecting not just farmland and forest but water quality for the Little Choptank River. This farm buffers two tributaries of this river and we remain thankful to the Scanlons for making this important choice to protect this area.”
“At Perdue, our company started more than 90 years ago on a family farm, we know the importance of the family farm to our business, and we recognize the environmental benefit of maintaining open space through properly managed farmland,” said Bill Hetherington, executive director of the Arthur W. Perdue Foundation. “We’re proud to lend our support to the mission of the Eastern Shore Land Conservancy through this grant.”