Land & Maps
Land & Maps
Land Preservation
ACLT's Preservation Efforts
Since it was established in 1986, the American Chestnut Land Trust has preserved over 4,800 acres in Calvert County, Maryland. ACLT owns nearly 1,400 acres, manages 1,800 acres owned by the State of Maryland, and holds conservation easements on 374 privately-owned acres. For an overview of the landscape, watch this aerial video of Parkers Creek.
The crown jewel of our land trust is Parkers Creek. The Calvert Cliffs and sandy shoreline in the vicinity of the mouth of Parkers Creek look much the same today as they did 400 years ago when Captain John Smith explored the Chesapeake Bay. A visitor today can still paddle a canoe over a mile and a half through unspoiled salt marshes and wooded freshwater wetlands and see little sign of human activity.
ACLT also protects land in the smaller nearby Governors Run Watershed which contains mature hardwood forest and plant species more commonly found in the mountains and Piedmont than on the Coastal Plain.
Conserve Your Land
Did you know? You can conserve your land and be paid for it! In Calvert County, land owners have a number of options to conserve their land, while still owning it. Land ownership has many benefits. Owners of rural farm and forest lands can farm, harvest timber, hunt, mine gravel, prevent trespass and enjoy the many other benefits of a rural lifestyle. In most places, owners may still have the ability to create a lot or lots to convey to others. Subject to property location and funding, there are three local programs and three state programs available in Calvert County that pay owners who are willing to limit or restrict the creation of future lots from their property.
​Local Programs. Calvert County created the first program in the country to allow landowners (primarily farmers) to sell or “transfer their development rights" to developers wishing to develop land at higher density where growth is desired (Town Centers). After that program was created, the County added two programs that “retire” the development rights: the Purchase and Retirement (PAR) program and the Leveraging and Retirement (LAR) program. Contact Rachel O'Shea at the Calvert County Department of Community Planning and Building for additional information on any of these county programs.​​
​State Programs. Maryland has three easement programs that retire development potential from willing owners. They are operated by the Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation, the Rural Legacy Board and the Maryland Environmental Trust. With the first two programs, the property owners sell an easement to the state. With the latter, the owners donate an easement and may benefit from a tax break from the value of the easement over the next 15 years. A summary of the status of all of these programs can be reached here.
​Sell to a Land Trust. Conserve your land by selling it to a land trust! There are several land trusts operating in Calvert County that may want to buy and conserve your property if you are interested.
Preserved Properties
ACLT is continuing to conserve land in the Parkers Creek and Governors Run watersheds. If you own land in these watersheds and wish to preserve your property, please give us a call.
Land conservation is expensive! Please donate if you can.
To learn more about land conservation options, contact us!
One of ACLT’s founding members, Peter Vogt, has written a series of articles documenting the geology and history of the Parkers Creek watershed and ACLT. Read them here.