A conservation easement program proposed for the north end of the county could help preserve agricultural land near Bishopville and Showell.
A dotted line shows the parameters of a newly approved Rural Legacy Area in the Bishopville and Showell area.
Map courtesy Worcester County Government
By Charlene Sharpe, Associate Editor
A conservation easement program proposed for the north end of the county could help preserve agricultural land near Bishopville and Showell.
The Worcester County Commissioners on Feb. 6 approved plans for a new 12,000-acre Rural Legacy Area, or RLA, for the area. The state’s rural legacy program pays landowners for permanent conservation easements on their properties.
“Establishing this area is simply going to give landowners a new option, or choices not available to them before,” said Katherine Munson of Worcester County Environmental Programs.
Currently, Worcester County has two legacy areas through the Rural Legacy Area program — the Dividing Creek RLA and the Coastal Bays RLA. Funding for the program comes from Program Open Space as well as general obligation bonds from the state’s capital budget, according to Bob Mitchell, the county’s director of environmental programs. He told the commissioners his department met with area landowners last August to share plans for a potential new Rural Legacy Area.
“We received overwhelming support from area landowners that they’re really interested in this additional conservation easement program for this area of Worcester County, to hold back the Sussex County hordes I guess,” he said.
Munson said Worcester County currently had about 23,000 acres protected through RLA and Maryland Agricultural Land Protection Foundation. About 87,000 acres of the county is cropland.
“Worcester County is the third most productive agricultural economy in the state, with $249 million in annual value of agricultural products sold,” she said. “Our agricultural landscape as you know is what attracts many tourists to our county.”
Most of the protected land, however, is in the southern part of the county. The new RLA would put more focus on farmland protection in the northern part of the county.
“We have spoken with numerous farmers and landowners in this area,” she said. “They’re interested in land protection, and they’re concerned about impacts of adjacent incompatible land uses.”
Commissioner Ted Elder said he understood the development pressure in the Bishopville area.
“The north end of the county has been ignored on this for a long time,” he said. “We have some of the richest soil up there. I think some of that needs to be protected.”
When he said he’d like to see an even larger RLA there, Munson said it could be expanded over time.
Commissioner Eric Fiori also expressed support for the new RLA.
“I want to thank you for all the work on this,” he said. “I think it’s really important.”
Once the new RLA is approved by the state, the county will be able to competitively apply for funds to purchase conservation easements from willing landowners within the designated area.