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In 1998 the Patuxent Tidewater Land
Trust submitted its first Rural Legacy application for the
Huntersville area. Since that time fourteen properties covering
over 3,000 acres have been protected in the Huntersville area
through the Rural Legacy program.
In January 2004, due
to increased landowner interest, the Patuxent Tidewater Land
Trust resubmitted another application to expand the Huntersville
Rural Legacy Area. The Land Trust requested the boundaries be
expanded to allow these additional landowners the opportunity to
place conservation easements on their property. This boundary
expansion was granted in 2005. Additional funding was granted in
January 2006 and January 2009.
In January 2006, the
state also designated and granted funding for a second Rural
Legacy Area in St. Mary's County. This new Mattapany area
encompassed 13,703 acres from south of Hermanville Road along
the Chesapeake Bay and Route 5 down to St. Jerome’s Creek. In
September 2006, the St. Mary’s County Board of Commissioners
purchased 159 acres referred to as the Fenwick Property. This
property is the cornerstone of the Mattapany Rural Legacy Area.
Since that time, six additional properties in the Mattapany area
have been preserved through the Rural Legacy Program totaling
just over 700 acres. There is currently expressed interest from
thirteen additional landowners totaling more than 1,350 acres.
The Patuxent Tidewater Land Trust is grateful to all of the
landowners in both the Huntersville and Mattapany Rural Legacy
Areas who participated in the Rural Legacy Program. Their
patience and dedication in preserving their land for future
generations has been commendable.
The Rural Legacy
Program encourages local governments and private land trusts to
identify Rural Legacy Areas and to competitively apply for funds
to complement existing land preservation efforts or to develop
new ones. Easements or fee estate purchases are sought from
willing landowners in order to protect areas vulnerable to
sprawl development that can weaken an area’s natural resources,
thereby jeopardizing the economic value of farming, forestry,
recreation and tourism.
For more information on the
Patuxent Tidewater Land Trust please visit
http://www.patuxent-tidewater.org/
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