Tag Archives: conservation

Scenic Rivers Land Trust

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Scenic Rivers Land Trust
The Scenic Rivers Land Trust works with landowners and other partners to preserve natural and scenic areas in Anne Arundel County. This work is accomplished though landowner education and holding and facilitating land protection agreements. The  as the organization is unique in the Severn, South, Patuxent, Rhode and West River watersheds able to accept small private conservation easements as well as large parcels. A conservation easement is a legal agreement between a landowner and a land trust that permanently protects property through the property deed. The owner determines the amount and type of development that can take place in the future within the conservation easement deed.

The Scenic Rivers Land Trust is a private, non-profit, non-governmental body chartered in 1988 for the purpose of protecting land through voluntary methods such as conservation easements and educating landholders on issues of conservation and stewardship. The Scenic Rivers Land Trust can accept conservation easements within Anne Arundel County, Maryland. Our focus is the Severn, South, Patuxent, Rhode, and West River watersheds. We work cooperatively with the Maryland Environmental Trust (MET) as an authorized MET easement agency. We are also in compliance with the Standards and Practices of the national Land Trust Alliance.

Our vision for Anne Arundel County and its people is a protected network of forests and greenways where streams run clean and wildlife thrive; tidal and non-tidal rivers abound with scenic shorelines; and sufficient acres of permanently protected natural areas exist where rainwater will be absorbed and cleaned by the soil, aquifers will be replenished, trees will clean the air, and rare and endangered species will thrive.

Smithsonian Environmental Research Center

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SERC has 3,000+ acres of wildlife conservation area along 14 miles of pristine shoreline. There are two trails open to everyone, each approximately 1.5 miles long. They offer Saturday programs for the public ranging from walks and talks to canoe tours of Muddy Creek and the Rhode River.

The center’s focus of study is on the ecosystems of coastal zones, particularly in the Chesapeake Bay wetlands. The Center leads the Nation in research on linkages of land and water ecosystems in the coastal zone and provides society with knowledge to meet critical environmental challenges in the 21st century.

The SERC conducts research on a wide variety of topics that include terrestrial, atmospheric, and estuarine environmental research within the disciplines of botany, ecology, environmental education, biology,chemistry, mathematics, microbiology, physics, and zoology. The Center trains interns, graduate students, pre-doctoral and doctoral students. Annually, the Center receives over 10,000 students, teachers, and families who come to visit. It also gives advice, consultation, and testimony to local, state, federal, and international governmental agencies, natural resource managers, policy makers, and conservation groups.

Additionally, it serves as a center of research and education on human impacts in land-sea interactions of the coastal zone. Their laboratory focuses on being a model of human interaction with the environment. The Center receives $20,000,000 in current extramural grants and contracts funded from governmental agencies, foundations, and industry.