Funding approved for DNR’s Program Open Space Local, Rural Legacy, and Conservation Reserve Enhancement Permanent Easement programs
The Gunpowder Rural Legacy Area in Baltimore County protects significant river frontage, which also protect the drinking water source for the Baltimore metropolitan area, including Pretty Boy and Loch Raven reservoirs.
The Board of Public Works today approved $3.75 million in grants from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources to local governments and land trusts for recreation and land conservation in Baltimore, Cecil, Charles, Kent, Queen Anne’s, and St. Mary’s counties.
About $192,000 in Program Open Space – Local funding was approved for a new restroom to be constructed in Queen Anne’s County’s White Marsh Park. This county park in Centreville is highly active throughout the year and includes one of the state’s only public agroforestry gardens.
Additionally, the Board approved more than $3.4 million in Rural Legacy funding for five conservation easement acquisitions that protect a total of more than 600 acres of land across Maryland:
- The Eastern Shore Land Conservancy will acquire an easement on 186 acres in the Agricultural Security Corridor – Harvest Crescent Rural Legacy Area. The easement will protect productive farmland and more than 3,000 feet of forested buffers along Lloyd Creek and associated tributaries in the Sassafras River watershed of Kent County.
- In St. Mary’s County’s Mattapany Rural Legacy Area, an easement held by the Southern Maryland Resource Conservation and Development Board will protect a 50-acre forest. The property borders Breton Bay, which drains into the Potomac River, and provides habitat for forest interior dwelling species of birds that require large blocks of undisturbed forest in order for the birds to successfully nest.
- The Cecil Land Trust will acquire an easement on an 87-acre farm in the Fair Hill Rural Legacy Area. The easement will protect more than 6,000 feet of buffers along a Susquehanna River tributary and preserve scenic views along Hopewell Road.
- In the Zekiah Rural Legacy Area, Charles County will acquire an easement on a 287-acre farm. The easement will protect productive agricultural soils and 3,000 feet of forested buffers along a tributary of the Wicomico River in the Potomac River watershed.
- The Gunpowder Conservancy will protect eight acres along Shepperd and Monkton Roads in the Gunpowder Rural Legacy Area. The easement provides stream buffers along a tributary to Gunpowder Falls that flows to Loch Raven Reservoir, which is a source of drinking water for the Baltimore Metropolitan Area.
Additionally, the Board approved acquisition of a Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program permanent easement in Kent County with $140,000 of Program Open Space funding. The Eastern Shore Land Conservancy will acquire the easement to protect a 29-acre farm, of which 11 acres are included by way of landowner donation. Forested land on the property provides a buffer along East Fork Langford Creek
All projects funded are listed in the Board of Public Works December 3, 2025 meeting agenda. The three-member Board of Public Works is composed of Governor Wes Moore, Treasurer Dereck E. Davis and Comptroller Brooke E. Lierman.
Program Open Space – Local provides funding for county and municipal governments for the planning, acquisition, and development of recreational land or facilities. Established under the Department of Natural Resources in 1969, Program Open Space (divided into Local and Stateside programs), along with other state land conservation programs, symbolizes Maryland’s long-term commitment to conserving our natural resources while providing exceptional outdoor recreation opportunities for all citizens. The program is funded by a property transfer tax.
The Rural Legacy Program, created in 1997, conserves large working landscapes across 36 locally designated areas throughout Maryland. The Rural Legacy Program, along with the Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation, have recently earned the State of Maryland national recognition from the American Farmland Trust.
Since 2009, Maryland’s permanent conservation easement option with the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program has acquired, from willing landowners, conservation easements that require continued maintenance of Conservation Reserve Program practices after the expiration of the federal contracts.
More news on grants approved for Program Open Space Local, Local Parks and Playgrounds Infrastructure, Rural Legacy, and Conservation Reserve Enhancement Permanent Easement programs is available on the Maryland Department of Natural Resources’ Land News webpage.
