Southern Maryland Conservation Alliance
Coordinating land conservation and restoration in the five-county Southern Maryland region.
About Us
Five Maryland counties comprise the Southern Maryland region: Anne Arundel, Prince George's, Charles, Calvert, and St. Mary's.
The Southern Maryland Conservation Alliance (SMCA) formed in 2021 to coordinate land conservation and restoration efforts within the five-county Southern Maryland region, located between the Chesapeake Bay to the east and the Potomac River to the west. The region encompasses the counties of Anne Arundel, Prince George’s, Charles, Calvert, and St. Mary’s. The Alliance is composed of non-profit land trusts, as well as other non-governmental environmental organizations and governmental agencies (federal, state, and local government) working in the region.
Our Mission
The Southern Maryland Conservation Alliance is a network of partners who work to conserve and restore Southern Maryland’s landscapes, waterways, and shorelines that are special to its people, fundamental to its economy, reflected in its culture, and vital for its native fish, wildlife, and plants, on which we rely.
Our Vision
The Alliance envisions Southern Maryland as a place where native fish, wildlife and plants thrive, and the fabric of healthy natural and working lands and waters enrich communities of those who live, work, and play here. Our culture and history are remembered and told, and our rich forestlands, fruitful farmlands, and resilient shorelines sustain present and future generations.
About the Region
Sought after for its healthy soils, abundant wildlife, and proximity to water and safe harbors, Southern Maryland is home to some of the nations earliest settlements. Up until the 60's, Southern Maryland remained a landscape dominated by agricultural production.
Today, our region is still home to many farms, but it has grown to include several breweries, wineries, and outstandingly sustainable and diverse growing operations. Despite a population increase by more than one million people since the 1940's, Southern Maryland remains one of the most ecologically valuable landscapes in the state.
Home to ample amphibian and freshwater fish habitats, and an important refuge for a multitude of migratory and coastal bird species, the Southern Maryland region is flourishing with ecosystem services. Furthermore, according to The Nature Conservancy Resiliency Maps, Southern Maryland has some of the most resilient landscapes in the region, as seen in the image to the left. Resiliency is based on biodiversity and natural connectedness, two things SMCA strives to support and improve.
Our Goals
The Southern Maryland Conservation Alliance has five goals that address its overarching mission to protect and restore significant natural, agricultural, scenic, and cultural resources in Southern Maryland.
Goal 1
Provide a forum and overarching strategy for all conservation organizations in the Alliance to work together, build capacity, share technology, and raise funds for conservation.
Goal 2
Help develop regional solutions to conserve working farms, forest lands, rivers and streams, and significant historical, natural, scenic, and recreational resources.
Goal 3
Identify, conserve, restore, and manage the vital network of working and natural lands and waters that support a diversity of habitats for native fish and wildlife, and maintain resilience in the face of future development and climate change for present and future generations
Goal 4
Help promote the economic well-being of the region's communities and residents. Also promote the region’s natural resource-based industries and their positive impact.
Goal 5
Provide a clearinghouse to help Alliance members and other interested parties share knowledge of best practices and technology i.e., GIS mapping technology, and work together to conserve important landscapes.
Land Protection
Mapping critical lands
Combined, the five counties of Southern Maryland span over 1.8 million acres. To be strategic in our conservation efforts, we narrowed our focus to the areas of highest ecological priority. This map helps visualize areas that, if protected, will maintain a working rural Southern Maryland landscape that supports thriving populations of fish, wildlife, and people into the future.
The blue and purple layer on the map depicts habitat cores and connectors, as identified by Nature's Network. Core areas were identified by five characteristics: high ecological integrity, high potential to be resilient to changing conditions over time, rare natural communities, priority river floodplains, and current and predicted future high quality habitat for 27 surrogate species representing the habitat requirements of the majority of species in the northeast.
Terrestrial and wetland core areas are intact, well-connected places that, if protected, will support a diversity of fish, wildlife, and plants, and the ecosystems they depend upon. (Nature's Network)
The pink overlay represents the critical lands area—i.e. the priority conservation area—of the Southern Maryland Conservation Alliance. This layer is used by the Alliance when assessing potential conservation properties. Keep scrolling to see how this area was defined.
Defining the critical lands area
The map on the left shows the deconstructed version of SMCA's critical lands area. It includes rural legacy areas, SMCA members' self-identified priority conservation lands, and state-designated priority conservation areas. The map on the right combines all these lands to create SMCA's final critical lands area. Click the legend icon in the bottom left to see what each layer represents, and move the slider in the middle to see the full extent of each map.
Tools for protecting critical lands
With priority areas defined, how does SMCA plan to protect properties in the region? As it currently stands, the pace of land conservation can be tedious and slow, often relying upon the charitable donation of easements by landowners. With development pressures ever-present and statewide land preservation goals growing more ambitious, alternative approaches to land conservation are needed. Luckily, our conservation tool belt is expanding, and several resources could soon be available to help SMCA accelerate efforts in the region. These tools are described below.
US Fish and Wildlife Service Land Protection Plan
SMCA has been working closely with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to rollout a Land Protection Plan (LPP) for establishing a new National Wildlife Refuge in Southern Maryland. This map shows the USFWS' proposed acquisition boundary for acquiring new refuge lands, depicting the most important habitats of Southern Maryland. Should the plan be approved, the Service will have the green light to pursue up to 40,000 acres of land from willing landowners within this boundary. If the plan is implemented, SMCA will continue to play a key role in implementing the LPP by leveraging partnerships to identify potential refuge acquisitions.
Land trust loan fund
In 2023, the General Assembly passed the Maryland the Beautiful Act, which establishes a revolving loan fund for land trusts to use toward conservation. Such a resource is vital for protecting critical lands, especially if we hope to achieve the statewide goal of preserving 40% of Maryland's lands by 2040—an objective also established by the Maryland the Beautiful Act. While a revolving loan fund could be used for land trusts to purchase property outright, SMCA proposes a much more strategic use. SMCA hopes to use the revolving loan fund toward a critical lands program that works to quickly conserve critical properties when they come up for sale, requiring less money to be borrowed from the revolving loan fund and for a shorter amount of time. Keep scrolling to see how this program could work.
How a critical lands program could work
- A property comes up for sale that falls within the SMCA critical lands area
- A land trust in the region decides to try and conserve it and begins notifying conservation buyers of the property
- The land trust puts in a contract with conditions. The conditions allow the land trust to legally back out if:
- the property doesn't appraise for the contract price
- and/or the land trust is not able to get MD Board of Public Works approval for the easement
- Additionally, the contract stipulates the following:
- the settlement of the purchase happens concurrently with the easement purchase
- the contract can be assignable to another party, e.g. a conservation buyer
- If for some reason the land trust must sell the land to the buyer after settlement, they might need to borrow from the revolving loan fund for the short period of time before selling
- After selling the land, the land trust now has the funds to repay the revolving loan fund
- See the slider on the right for a hypothetical example:
Restoration
Water Quality Monitoring
Watershed monitoring is the first step toward restoration. While Bay-wide progress has been made toward restoration, SMCA believes in the importance of both top-down and ground-up efforts to conserve and restore. For this reason, the Southern Maryland Conservation Alliance began coordinating a regional water quality monitoring program to identify nitrogen (NO23) hotspots that may be contributing to pollution in the Chesapeake Bay and the Patuxent River.
In 2023, SMCA tested 95 stream sites throughout the five-county region. In 2024, SMCA expanded regional coverage, testing a whopping 138 sites. The testing was conducted in the style of a blitz, that is, a one-day event where volunteers all over the region take spot samples from streams. So long as certain conditions are met—namely the samples are taken in early spring before leaf-out and no significant rainfall or runoff has occurred for at least 3 days prior—the Blitz results yield an approximation of yearly average nitrogen (NO23) concentrations in the sampled streams (Weller & Jordan).
The American Chestnut Land Trust, co-chair of SMCA, has been conducting blitz-style stream sampling since 2017, in a yearly event known as the Water Quality Blitz. The Blitz has grown massively since 2017, with 2024 being the biggest yet. A total of 14 SMCA organizations participated in the 2024 Blitz, an impressive increase from the 10 participating groups in 2023. The maps below show the results from the 2023 and 2024 Blitzes. Move the slider to switch the view from 2023 to 2024, and zoom in to see where samples were taken.
This map shows the Nitrogen (NO23) results for the 2023 (left) and 2024 (right) Water Quality Blitz. Move the slider to see the growth in Southern Maryland coverage from 2023 to 2024. Click on the dots for further details about the NO23 results.
Water Quality Blitz volunteers in action!
Click on the photo to see which organization these volunteers are representing.
Sources:
Weller, Donald E., and Thomas E. Jordan. “Inexpensive spot sampling provides unexpectedly effective indicators of watershed nitrogen status.” Ecosphere, vol. 11, no. 8, 2020, https://doi.org/10.1002/ecs2.3224.
SMCA Members
(Map locations are approximate)
Core Members
American Chestnut Land Trust
American Chestnut Land Trust. Click to expand.
The American Chestnut Land Trust (ACLT) provides free access to 22 miles of trails across a 3,400 acre preserve, offers guided canoe trips on the beautiful Parkers Creek, and oversees regenerative farming that benefits a local food pantry. ACLT is dedicated to land conservation and to the community.
Maryland Environmental Trust
Maryland Environmental Trust. Click to expand.
As one of the oldest and most successful land trusts in the country, the Maryland Environmental Trust (MET) holds over 1,100 conservation easements preserving over 140,000 acres statewide.
US Fish & Wildlife Service
US Fish & Wildlife Service. Click to expand.
The USFWS works with others to conserve, protect and enhance fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The USFWS office supports activities that conserve wildlife and their habitats in the District of Columbia, Delaware and Maryland.
Forever Maryland Foundation
Forever Maryland Foundation. Click to expand.
Forever Maryland was founded to promote and enhance land conservation statewide through education, advocacy, and outreach.
Patuxent Tidewater Land Trust
Patuxent Tidewater Land Trust. Click to expand.
PTLT’s mission is to acquire and hold conservation easements on ecologically valuable land.
Scenic Rivers Land Trust
Scenic Rivers Land Trust. Click to expand.
Scenic Rivers Land Trust is dedicated to protecting forests, wetlands, farmlands and other open spaces in Anne Arundel County. SRLT works with landowners and other partners to conserve natural and scenic areas through landowner education and by holding and facilitating land protection agreements.
Calvert Nature Society
Calvert Nature Society. Click to expand.
The Calvert Nature Society provides meaningful nature education experiences, supports an active volunteer corps, and preserves Calvert's natural and cultural heritage.
Conservancy for Charles County
Conservancy for Charles County. Click to expand.
The Conservancy for Charles County is an all-volunteer, community-based membership organization dedicated to land conservation. The conservancy protects privately-owned land throughout Charles County by working with landowners in a voluntary program of donated conservation easements.
Chesapeake Conservancy
Chesapeake Conservancy. Click to expand.
The Chesapeake Conservancy uses artificial intelligence and groundbreaking data to accelerate progress in conserving landscapes vital to the Bay’s health and its cultural heritage while equitably connecting people to the Chesapeake.
Cove Point Natural Heritage Trust
Cove Point Natural Heritage Trust . Click to expand.
The mission of the CPNHT is to preserve and protect ecologically sensitive sites at Cove Point and Southern Maryland through land conservation, scientific research, and environmental education.
Prince George's Soil Conservation District
Prince George's Soil Conservation District . Click to expand.
The mission of PGSCD is to protect and promote the health, safety, and welfare of the citizens of the state and county . PGSCD provides grading and sediment control, agricultural landowner assistance and rural preservation services to the citizens and residents of the county.
Southern Maryland RC&D
Southern Maryland RC&D. Click to expand.
RC&D's work promotes healthy ecosystems, healthy enterprises, and healthy communities. RC&D is dedicated to improving the quality of life in the five-county area.
Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay
Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay. Click to expand.
The Alliance brings together communities, companies, and conservationists to improve the lands and waters of the Chesapeake Bay.
Southern Maryland Heritage Area Consortium (Destination Southern Maryland)
Southern Maryland Heritage Area Consortium (Destination Southern Maryland). Click to expand.
SMHAC's mission is to enhance Southern Maryland through innovative heritage tourism experiences, comprehensive cultural and natural resource conservation, and excellence in educational opportunities.
Calvert Farmland Trust
Calvert Farmland Trust. Click to expand.
The Calvert Farmland Trust buys farmland to resell for agriculture purposes, accepts land donations for tax purposes, maintains current farmland registry to connect farms with operators and accepts easements on property dedicated to agriculture.
Black Swamp Creek Land Trust
Black Swamp Creek Land Trust. Click to expand.
BSCLT is dedicated to the conservation and stewardship of farmland, forest, streams, rivers, wetlands, wildlife habitat, open space, and scenic beauty, and especially focused on the Patuxent River watershed.
Accokeek Foundation
Accokeek Foundation. Click to expand.
The Accokeek Foundation works cooperatively with partners to provide safe and just access to public lands.
Land Trust Alliance
Land Trust Alliance. Click to expand.
The Land Trust Alliance is the voice of the land trust community. As the national leader in policy, standards, education and training, we work passionately to support land trusts so they can save and secure more lands now and for future generations.
Middle Chesapeake Sentinel Landscape
Middle Chesapeake Sentinel Landscape. Click to expand.
Middle Chesapeake Sentinel Landscape partners have pursued projects that collectively preserve natural resources, protect agricultural land, and strengthen military readiness.
American Chestnut Land Trust
The American Chestnut Land Trust (ACLT) provides free access to 22 miles of trails across a 3,400 acre preserve, offers guided canoe trips on the beautiful Parkers Creek, and oversees regenerative farming that benefits a local food pantry. ACLT is dedicated to land conservation and to the community.
Maryland Environmental Trust
As one of the oldest and most successful land trusts in the country, the Maryland Environmental Trust (MET) holds over 1,100 conservation easements preserving over 140,000 acres statewide.
US Fish & Wildlife Service
The USFWS works with others to conserve, protect and enhance fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The USFWS office supports activities that conserve wildlife and their habitats in the District of Columbia, Delaware and Maryland.
Forever Maryland Foundation
Forever Maryland was founded to promote and enhance land conservation statewide through education, advocacy, and outreach.
Patuxent Tidewater Land Trust
PTLT’s mission is to acquire and hold conservation easements on ecologically valuable land.
Scenic Rivers Land Trust
Scenic Rivers Land Trust is dedicated to protecting forests, wetlands, farmlands and other open spaces in Anne Arundel County. SRLT works with landowners and other partners to conserve natural and scenic areas through landowner education and by holding and facilitating land protection agreements.
Calvert Nature Society
The Calvert Nature Society provides meaningful nature education experiences, supports an active volunteer corps, and preserves Calvert's natural and cultural heritage.
Conservancy for Charles County
The Conservancy for Charles County is an all-volunteer, community-based membership organization dedicated to land conservation. The conservancy protects privately-owned land throughout Charles County by working with landowners in a voluntary program of donated conservation easements.
Chesapeake Conservancy
The Chesapeake Conservancy uses artificial intelligence and groundbreaking data to accelerate progress in conserving landscapes vital to the Bay’s health and its cultural heritage while equitably connecting people to the Chesapeake.
Cove Point Natural Heritage Trust
The mission of the CPNHT is to preserve and protect ecologically sensitive sites at Cove Point and Southern Maryland through land conservation, scientific research, and environmental education.
Prince George's Soil Conservation District
The mission of PGSCD is to protect and promote the health, safety, and welfare of the citizens of the state and county . PGSCD provides grading and sediment control, agricultural landowner assistance and rural preservation services to the citizens and residents of the county.
Southern Maryland RC&D
RC&D's work promotes healthy ecosystems, healthy enterprises, and healthy communities. RC&D is dedicated to improving the quality of life in the five-county area.
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Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay
The Alliance brings together communities, companies, and conservationists to improve the lands and waters of the Chesapeake Bay.
Southern Maryland Heritage Area Consortium (Destination Southern Maryland)
SMHAC's mission is to enhance Southern Maryland through innovative heritage tourism experiences, comprehensive cultural and natural resource conservation, and excellence in educational opportunities.
Calvert Farmland Trust
The Calvert Farmland Trust buys farmland to resell for agriculture purposes, accepts land donations for tax purposes, maintains current farmland registry to connect farms with operators and accepts easements on property dedicated to agriculture.
Black Swamp Creek Land Trust
BSCLT is dedicated to the conservation and stewardship of farmland, forest, streams, rivers, wetlands, wildlife habitat, open space, and scenic beauty, and especially focused on the Patuxent River watershed.
Accokeek Foundation
The Accokeek Foundation works cooperatively with partners to provide safe and just access to public lands.
Land Trust Alliance
The Land Trust Alliance is the voice of the land trust community. As the national leader in policy, standards, education and training, we work passionately to support land trusts so they can save and secure more lands now and for future generations.
Middle Chesapeake Sentinel Landscape
Middle Chesapeake Sentinel Landscape partners have pursued projects that collectively preserve natural resources, protect agricultural land, and strengthen military readiness.
Resources
- Thanks to the generosity of the Chesapeake Conservancy and USGS, SMCA has a new parcel scale analytics tool to support our partners' conservation activities. Access the tool here.
- Mary Hoover and Ron Klauda represented SMCA, the American Chestnut Land Trust (ACLT), and the Friends of Hunting Creek (FOHC) at the 2023 Maryland Water Monitoring Council (MWMC) Conference. They presented SMCA's efforts to carry out grassroots watershed monitoring and restoration throughout the region. See the PowerPoint presentation below:
Powerpoint slides presented at the 2023 MWMC Conference.
