21 April 2008
Maryland Cooperates with Landowners for Environmental Health
Compensation, tax benefits accompany responsible land management projects
Washington -- The number of small American family farms in operation has dwindled as agriculture becomes more centralized and most profitable in large-scale operations. But fallow fields and timber lots in the state of Maryland are finding new uses that benefit both landowners and the ecological health of the greater Chesapeake Bay region.
According to Daniel Rider in Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR), more than 400 landowners are participating in the state’s cost-share programs that provide financial compensation and tax benefits to individuals who work with environmental experts to implement land use proposals designed to increase the health of the ecosystem and provide sanctuary for wildlife.
Rider said private landowners are “utilizing our funds for a variety of purposes such as planting 4 million [tree] seedlings per year, and developing forest stewardship plans on over 2,000 acres [800 hectares].”
The land area that is the modern state of Maryland was 95 percent forestland when the first European settlers arrived in the early 17th century. Centuries of cutting trees to clear fields and gather materials for buildings, fuel and other products reduced that figure to 41 percent by 1999. According to DNR, 76 percent of Maryland’s 1 million remaining hectares of forestland is privately owned, and the forests face challenges such as land development and the division of larger parcels of land into smaller pieces that fragment natural resources and reduce contiguous wildlife habitats.
Along with forest stewardship, Maryland’s DNR is working with landowners on an additional 3,000 acres [1,200 hectares] for projects to improve wildlife habitats, and 2,000 acres [800 hectares] to improve timber stands, Rider said.
FOREST STEWARDSHIP FROM A PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE
In Allegany County, about 192 kilometers miles northwest of Washington, Maryland state foresters have been working with my family to convert 7.6 hectares of former cornfields along a creek into new forests. The riparian buffer system established by the tree roots in the soil will help prevent erosion into nearby Town Creek, which feeds directly into the Potomac River and ultimately contributes to Washington’s water supply and the health of the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem.
Data collected by DNR have shown that a 15-meter-wide riparian forest can filter out, absorb and utilize most of the sediment, nitrogen and phosphorous from farms that get carried in runoff downstream and contributes to pollution in the Chesapeake Bay. The extension of the edge of the forest to the creek also will provide covered protection for smaller wildlife trying to reach water and creates an ideal habitat for species such as wood turtles and migrating bird populations.
In return for allowing the agricultural land to be converted into a forest, state authorities are compensating my family, especially with property tax credits that reduce our real estate taxes. This has made it easier for us to keep the land despite sharp increases in its value (and potential taxes) over the past decade.
Our cooperation with DNR began when we invited state forestry officials to assess the fields and various stands of existing trees and draw up plans to improve or maintain the health of the ecosystem. Along with planting the former fields with saplings, the foresters identified areas of the woods that needed thinning, because overcrowded conditions increased competition among the trees for limited sunlight, water and nutrients and prevented the forest from achieving its maximum growth.
For the program to be a success, active landowner participation is a must. Our activities include marking trees slated for thinning, arranging commercial thinning operations for larger tree stands, marking boundary lines to guide state foresters, making regular inspections of the trees on the riparian buffer and removing tree shelters damaged by flooding.
Participation in Maryland’s program not only has taught landowners like ourselves more about the needs that are specific to the health of ecosystems on our property, but also has given us the satisfaction of being fully involved in environmental land stewardship.
