More than 50 members and friends turned out October 18 to elect the Board of Directors, enjoy refreshments, and hear our member, Dr. William Hilgartner, talk about fossil seeds found in streambeds and how they are used to determine what the landscape may have looked like hundreds or thousands of years ago. We also remembered Gloria Cameron, our vice-president who passed away recently, and recognized her contributions to land preservation. Gloria received The Manor Conservancy's Sergeant Murphy Land Preservation award earlier this year.

from left: President Henry Pitts, Dr. William Hilgartner, Marilyn Hilgartner

Board member Patrick Smith, Colin Jones, and Analeigh Smith enjoy a night out with The Manor Conservancy.

Environmental resilience is the ability to cope with and recover from disturbances caused by climate change. We may not be close enough to the ocean to experience the effects of an increase in sea level but many of our streams do experience regular flooding as a result of heavy rains.  

Extreme weather events affect not just our land but also our health. Hotter weather and extended heat waves increase the risk of heat stroke and dehydration. Earlier springs mean longer pollen seasons while wet weather can increase mold levels, both of which increase suffering in people who have allergies. Air pollution gets worse with higher temperatures and can contribute to respiratory problems. Then there are vector-borne diseases like Lyme, West Nile, and Zika, which may increase as higher temperatures and increased precipitation increase the population and range of ticks and mosquitoes.

Land protection is one strategy for ensuring that natural systems thrive, by reducing fragmentation and conserving carbon-storing forests and wetlands that temper flood damage. An especially important component of land preservation in northern Baltimore and Harford counties is the requirement for stream buffers, especially forested stream buffers. Stream buffers provide food, shelter, and travel corridors for wildlife on land and in the water. They filter excess nutrients from surface runoff. When they’re forested, stream buffers provide woody debris, an organic carbon source that helps microbes remove nitrates from the water, capture air-borne pollutants, and sequester carbon. You might say that riparian buffers are the kidneys of stream ecosystems, while forested buffers are the lungs.

Nearly all the easements The Manor Conservancy accept require hundred-foot stream buffers. We are preserving not just land, but health, habitat, and the environment.

We have lost a dear friend and Board member. Gloria Cameron, our vice-president and a driving force behind The Manor Conservancy, died July 2 after a long struggle with cancer.  As a long-time resident of Monkton, Gloria was deeply involved in preserving the rural character and traditions of the area.  No task was too large or too small; from preparing tax returns to stuffing envelopes to submitting grant proposals, Gloria relentlessly moved our organization forward. 

A project she was particularly interested in was the restoration of Fugate House, a stone structure in the heart of My Lady's Manor. Erected on Josiah Sparks's land (now Shepperd Road) before the Civil War, Fugate House had been rumored, but never proved, to have housed slaves. As part of Baltimore County's African-American history, the saga of Fugate House fascinated Gloria. The Manor Conservancy commissioned an investigation into Fugate's history and created plans to restore the structure. For more information about Fugate, click here. If you'd like to donate to this project in honor of and in memory of Gloria, please click here. 

Our thoughts and prayers are with Gloria's husband, Steve, and her children, Ellen and Evan.

Our Calcutta on April 13th was our biggest yet with over 130 attendees. The weather was perfect, the betting was spirited, and a good time was had by all.

         We forgot to mention on our invitation that socks were optional.

Click here for the text of a special hearing requested by The Manor Tavern.

We've received some questions about a special hearing requested by The Manor Tavern and we'd like to provide information to the community about the request.

The Manor Tavern, located at 15819 Old York Road, is asking for modifications to its parking plan. The request is to allow fewer than the required parking spaces on land zoned BL-CR, business parking on land zoned RC-2, overflow parking both on-site and off-site, and a residential  lot less than the minimum 1-acre size required on land zoned RC-2.

The hearing is scheduled for Monday, April 23, at 1:30 pm at the Jefferson Building, 105 W. Chesapeake Avenue, room 205, in Towson. We will be asking for a postponement because of a scheduling conflict and will let you know if and when the hearing is rescheduled. Your attendance at the hearing lets the Administrative Law Judge know that the community is involved and concerned with activities in the area, and attendees have the opportunity to have their concerns heard.

The Department of Public Works will hold its tenth annual public meeting to discuss rural roads, bridges, repaving and traffic issues at the Agriculture Center, 1114 Shawan Road, on Wednesday, April 25, between 5:30 and 7:30 PM. The meeting fulfills the County’s pledge to meet annually with residents interested in preserving the rural character of the County and to apprise them of infrastructure plans.

These annual public meetings evolved from the Rural Roads Standards, a citizen-government agreement, approved by the County Council, which codified standards and policies for road and bridge maintenance in rural areas.

As in the past, residents and interested parties will be able to speak one-on-one with Public Works engineers on specific, local issues, following a short introduction. The public will also be able to leave written comments. For more information, call the Director’s Office, Department of Public Works: 410 887-2171.

Delegate Chris West and Senator JB Jennings have proposed a bill to exclude commercial solar arrays on farmland from receiving the preferred agricultural assessment property tax rate.  The bill went before the House Ways and Means Committee February 20, 2018, and will be heard in the Senate on March 7.

Delegate West has also introduced a bill that would create a study on the best sites for large-scale commercial solar installations.  This bill will be heard in the House on March 12.

Her are the links to the bills: 

 http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2018RS/bills/hb/hb1013F.pdf

http://mgaleg.maryland.gov/2018RS/bills/hb/hb0866F.pdf

Please let us know if you would like to testify!

We are pleased to announce that The Manor Conservancy has been granted an additional easement on nearly 40 acres of land in Harford County. Over fifteen years ago, a landowner donated an easement on this property, and now the current landowner has donated a more restrictive easement that includes fifty-foot stream buffers on tributaries of the Little Gunpowder Falls. We’re very grateful to the landowner for demonstrating his commitment to land preservation in Harford County and helping to preserve and protect water quality and our rural way of life.

May 1 is the deadline for applications to sell easements to the Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation.  Since this program is on a two-year cycle, if you miss the deadline you'll have to wait until 2020 to submit an application!  Click here for more information about the program: click here for information on how to apply.

We are pleased to announce that, along with our friends at MET, The Manor Conservancy has been granted an easement on over 50 acres of land in northern Baltimore County, adding to the 4,000 acres we’ve preserved in Baltimore and Harford Counties.  With over 40 acres of farmland and 5 acres of woodlands, the property includes a stream and beautiful rural views.  We’re grateful to the landowners, who said about preserving their property, “It’s just the right thing to do.”