ESLC conserves 29 acres in Kent County through Maryland DNR CREP

In 1988 Lee Davis wrote a letter to the landowner whose property connected to his father’s 300-acre conserved farm, asking first right of refusal should the owners ever sell. Twenty-nine years later, he got a call to purchase the property. And as of this July, Davis’s 29 acres west of Chestertown will join his larger family farm in permanent conservation, a tangible extension of his family’s values and commitment to conservation.

Protected forever by Eastern Shore Land Conservancy, the 29-acre easement was funded as a Maryland DNR Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) Permanent Easement. Lee and Joyce Davis’s farm permanently protects more than eight acres of productive farmland, six acres of fern-filled woodland, and more than 11 acres of grassland buffers. The grasslands and woodlands in particular play an important role in buffering the East Fork of Langford Creek which winds its way through the farm’s woodlands.

The new easement connects with 300-acre Bell Rose Farm, now owned by the Davis’s and originally conserved by Lee Davis’s father through the Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation. The family has restored wetlands across the property, in addition to planting more than 1,400 trees including pine, oak, and American persimmon. The variety of wildlife habitat on-site has welcomed deer, doves, owls, hawks, bald eagles, waterfowl, muskrats, and beavers.

“The Davis’s Kent County easement brings ESLC’s conservation in Kent County to more than 14,713 acres,” commented ESLC President and CEO Steve Kline. “Bell Rose Farm joins 78 permanent ESLC conservation easements in Kent County that protect the area’s iconic rolling open views while defending productive farmland, open space, and vulnerable habitat from the increasing pressure of development and commercial solar.”

With 1175 feet of scenic road frontage on Bell Rose Lane, the easement does not merely protect a beautiful view, it protects an easily accessible property that’s vulnerable to development. “If we wanted to sell it, I could make one phone call and sell it for four times what we’re getting for the easement,” reflected Lee Davis. “I’m in real estate and I’ve done some development. There’s only so much farmland. We want to preserve this for the future. I have grandchildren coming along. And we’d like to keep it as it is. We looked at solar panels, but life isn’t all about money. Money can’t buy you health and happiness. ESLC has helped us to restore something forever.”