The Eastern Shore Land Conservancy has been the highly regarded protector and steward of some of the Upper Chesapeake’s most important landscapes for more than thirty years. With close to three hundred projects completed, the nonprofit recently came to the conclusion that they needed their own space (they are office renters currently) to professionally manage the archival responsibilities they have for those properties. More importantly, according to Rob Etgen, the organization’s executive director, the ESLC had to start “walking the talk” in terms of their own commitment to save Eastern Shore downtowns.
The Spy interviewed Etgen in the now abandoned executive office of McCord Cleaning Company. Etgen, currently in his twenty-third year of running the land trust, discusses the evolution from simply finding appropriate new office space to radically new vision of creating a conservation center, with the intention of providing space for a dozen other conservation groups in downtown Easton using the old McCord Cleaning building. In total, it will be a $6.6 millon investment into the downtown core of Easton, with over $4.4 million raised so far. In addition, Rob outlines the impact non-profits can have on Eastern Shore urban centers, and the importance of keeping downtowns vital to protect what is special about the Eastern Shore.
The video is approximately five minutes in length. Photography by Dave Harp, ESLC Board President and professional photographer
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