Eastern Shore Land Conservancy (ESLC) recently celebrated two new conservation easements on the farms of Donald and Susan Harris, and their sons Dustin and Daniel. Officially closed on the week before Veteran’s Day, the conservation easements will forever protect and honor the prime farmland and agricultural heritage once stewarded by Donald Harris’s father, Lloyd Benson Harris, a World War II veteran who survived D-Day in 1944 and later returned home to take care of the family farm.
Over the course of many generations, the Harris family has produced sweet corn, peas, lima beans, tomatoes, dairy, eggs, hogs, and now grain. When asked what led him to put the farms under easement with ESLC, Don Harris immediately recalled his hardworking father, who asked him to keep the farm forever. “If you get rid of it, it’s gone forever. Don’t you get rid of this ground,” Lloyd told his son, “Once it’s gone, it’s gone.” Lloyd turned down large offers from realtors and developers as far back as 1982, providing Don the opportunity to farm the family’s property for more than 50 years. ESLC’s conservation easement will now continue to keep the farm in production in perpetuity.
The 137-acre conservation easement at Emerson’s Green Close, the Harris’ Caroline County farm, protects 124 acres of prime agricultural soils as well as scenic road frontage all within the Tuckahoe Rural Legacy Area. 1,915 acres of protected land are located within one mile of the farm, with several thousand more in the nearby vicinity including ESLC’s conservation easement at the historic Daffin House. This contiguous conservation creates a strong corridor of green space and wildlife habitat surrounding the Tuckahoe.
Also located within the Tuckahoe Rural Legacy Area, the 45-acre conservation easement on the Harris’ Talbot County farm protects prime agricultural soils used for grain production as well as more than 21 acres of woodlands depended upon by increasingly rare forest interior dwelling bird species. Maryland’s Rural Legacy Program preserves large, contiguous tracts of land to enhance natural resource, agricultural, forestry and environmental protection.
ESLC would like to thank Maryland Department of Natural Resources, Donald and Susan Harris, and their sons Dustin and Daniel for their support and contributions to regional conservation on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. To learn more about conservation easements and Maryland’s Rural Legacy Program, including whether your property may qualify, please contact ESLC’s Director of Land Conservation David Satterfield at dsatterfield@eslc.org.
Established in 1990, Eastern Shore Land Conservancy’s mission is to conserve, steward, and advocate for the unique rural landscape of Maryland’s Eastern Shore, forever a special place of diverse and abundant natural resources and thriving rural communities.
