Page 25 - December 2023 Issue.indd

of Choptank people who tended squash, have been permanently conserved— Anyone interested should reach out to
beans, and corn, to colonial tobacco each farm, forest, and wetland protected David Satterfield, ESLC’s director of
production, grain growing, and fruit from development forever. While 13,000 land conservation, at DSatterfi eld@eslc.
and vegetable farming for local canner- acres is a success worth celebrating, org or 410-422-1996. In the meantime,

ies. Mills, steamboat landings, poultry there are still over 31,000 acres within here’s a glimpse of five ESLC easement
farms, schooner manufacturing, scenic DNR’s Tuckahoe Rural Legacy area just properties that have already committed
recreation, and kayak paddling trails, are waiting to be conserved, with ample to conservation in this uniquely beauti-

all signature features of the Tuckahoe, funding at the ready. This rural legacy ful corner of the Eastern Shore.
which also supports five unique habitats area was expanded just a few years ago

of rare plants. The watershed is home to to encompass 44,543 acres, almost half

deer, waterfowl, songbirds, turtles, 39 of the entire watershed. To conserve
species of freshwater fi sh, 25 species of the full area would be a gigantic win Red Mar
amphibians, and a host of native plants for conservation, for agriculture, for
water quality protection, for rare and
including “tuckahoe,” the Algonquin threatened species, historical preserva- Sweet Potatoes
word for a marsh-loving arrowhead
plant whose roots were harvested by the tion, public access to recreation, and so FOR SALE
Choptank people for food and for medi- much more.
cine. Tuckahoe Creek is also unique for $20 for half bushel
its ties to local African American history. If you, or someone you know, owns a

The famous statesman and abolitionist, property of over 30 acres located in the 25535 Hignutt Rd., Denton
Frederick Douglass, was born within the Tuckahoe area, we’d love to speak with 410-479-2715 or 410-829-2168
watershed, and Harriet Tubman oft en you about a conservation easement!
used the nearby upper Choptank water-
shed as a northward route while leading
escapees on the Underground Railroad.
Making Everlasting Memories
As more people move to the Eastern IN THE NEW YEAR!
Shore and more industries seek out the
Shore’s open space, it’s easy to see how
important it is to conserve places like
the Tuckahoe in order to preserve natu-
ral and cultural resources and in order
to protect water quality by improving
natural buff ers surrounding the tribu-
tary. Luckily, Maryland DNR’s Rural
Legacy Program, begun in 1997, exists
to protect large, contiguous tracts of
the state’s most precious cultural and
natural resource lands through grants
made to local applicants. ESLC has been
a sponsor for Rural Legacy Areas (RLA)
on the Eastern Shore since 2001, and
has protected 66 properties covering
over 11,000 acres of land utilizing this

funding program. The Tuckahoe is one
of ESLC’s sponsored Rural Legacy areas.
In 2019, ESLC worked with DNR and
local governments to further expand
these RLAs, by almost four times their BUCKET LISTER TRAVELS
original footprint, drastically increasing
the number of eligible properties in the Lindsay Lister
region. Independent Travel Agent
443.786.5335 | EASTON, MD
Thanks to the work of Eastern Shore LINZYBLISTER@GMAIL.COM
Land Conservancy, MALPF, and fund- LINDSAYLISTER.INTELETRAVEL.COM
ing from Rural Legacy grants, over
13,000 acres of the Tuckahoe watershed Certified in Honeymoons & Destination Weddings

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