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Happy Earth Day 2016!

Happy Earth Day! While it’s pretty much Earth Day every day for all of us at Eastern Shore Land Conservancy and everyone else working for environmental groups and casues throughout the world, April 22nd does indeed serve as a unique opportunity to raise awareness about our natural environment and resources. Did you know that in addition to Earth Day, it’s also National Environmental Education Week? It started last Sunday and runs through tomorrow, April 23rd. National Environmental Education Week encourages and celebrates environmental learning through events and projects across the country. Events are led by formal and informal educators from various disciplines and include participants aged 1-100. As you may already know, ESLC practices environmental education year-round through its Sassafras Environmental Education Center, or SEEC, at Turner’s Creek in Kennedyville, MD (Kent County). At SEEC, a child can master paddling a canoe while learning about John Smith, local watermen, and estuarine ecology. Activities such as digging potatoes from the garden and delivering them to the Kent County Food Bank provides a lesson in community awareness, soil ecology, and empathy. We want every child to deeply appreciate the need to live compatibly in the natural environment. To help achieve that, each year our educators provide every 2nd- to 10th-grade KCPS student with outdoor experiences that build upon and supplement the Maryland Environmental Literacy standards they are mastering in the classroom. With the creation of our Shore Talks series, ESLC is now helping to provide an environmental education classroom for adults, too! By pairing experts from their respective fields with classrooms where they did not exist, residents can continue to learn about our Shore and the environment in which we must coexist with nature. Topics include oyster aquaculture, the health and history of the Chesapeake Bay, and the migration of Monarch Butterflies, among others. So, on this Earth Day,...

ESLC Welcomes New Staff

August 8, 2011 –Eastern Shore Land Conservancy is pleased to announce the addition of Josh Hastings, Bill Mattimore and Dorsey Clark to its staff.  Hastings joins ESLC as its Policy Manager, where he will help ESLC both advance proactive policy initiatives/legislation and oppose harmful policies/development projects. Josh will develop an organizational policy agenda, organize and mobilize a broad base of citizens/partners; and conduct public campaigns. A proud Eastern Shore native, Josh grew up in Wicomico County, on Maryland’s first certified organic farm. Over the past few years, he has served as the Legislative Assistant to the Chair of the Education, Health, and Environmental Affairs Committee, in the Maryland State Senate. Josh has been involved on multiple political campaigns on the local, state and federal level. He is a 2004 and 2005 graduate of Salisbury University, earning a Bachelors in Business Marketing and Bachelors in Political Science, respectively. He recently relocated to Stevensville.    Also joining the ESLC staff as its new Accountant is Bill Mattimore. In this capacity, Bill will be focused on the day-to-day bookkeeping and financial planning  for ESLC. A graduate of Georgetown University and Columbia University, Bill received an AB in Economics and an MBA in Finance and Accounting. He holds a CPA Certification from the state of New York. He has a diverse background in financial management in the securities, mutual fund and medical administration fields and has nine years of experience working with 501c3 not-for-profit organizations. Bill and his wife Anne moved to Easton two years ago to be closer to their three children and eight grandchildren in Annapolis and Ashburn, Virginia.  Rounding out the newly added staff is ESLC’s new Sassafras Environmental Education Center Program Manager, Dorsey Clarke. Dorsey, who recently completed a one year appointment as ESLC’s Volunteer Maryland Coordinator , will help...

ESLC, DNR Celebrate Grand Opening of Sassafras Environmental Education Center

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Eastern Shore Land Conservancy (ESLC) and former U.S. Congressman, Wayne Gilchrest today celebrated the grand opening of the Sassafras Environmental Education Center (SEEC). SEEC, an environmental education and agro-ecology program at Sassafras Natural Resources Management Area in Kent County, is the result of a unique partnership between DNR and ESLC. This partnership connects Maryland’s children with nature and explores potential models for innovative agricultural activities supporting both local food supply and protection of the Chesapeake Bay.  The project will involve a range of activities for children. “SEEC will give these kids a deep frame of reference for the ecology and their place in the ecology,” said Wayne Gilchrest, Program Director for SEEC. “When you have an understanding of your own niche and how it can be compatible with nature’s design, you can see the greater impact and be a better steward of our planet.” “I want to thank Congressman Gilchrest for his vision and enthusiasm; he was the driving force behind the Sassafras Environmental Education Center,” said Governor Martin O’Malley. “The SEEC is a prime example of unique partners, both private and public, coming together for the benefit of Maryland children. Through outdoor education, our children learn to appreciate our natural world and become the next generation of stewards.” Eastern Shore Land Conservancy (ESLC) is a regional conservation organization dedicated to preserving and sustaining the vibrant communities of the Eastern Shore.  SEEC programs are one way ESLC is able to increase access to land and engage youth and their families in these activities. ESLC will collaborate with the SEEC through complimenting educational efforts and will work to ensure children on the Shore find ways to explore their rural heritage. “Working with youth and providing more opportunities for people from all walks of life...