A Look at the Year 2021
As you consider financial support for PTLT, browse this recap of all we accomplished in 2021. Making our local community a better place is our reason for being. We protect farms and forests from development. PTLT advises to regional and local planners in their efforts to protect our wild spaces, while improving our quality of life.
Our work protects wildlife around us before it is gone. Currently, PTLT board member David Moulton is leading a study to modify hay harvesting schedules to protect ground nesting birds like Eastern Meadowlarks while making sure farmers still can harvest their crops. Grassland bird numbers have dropped by 70% since 1970 - we need to bring them back.
Here in more detail are our most significant accomplishments in 2021.
We protected more land. By the end of this year, we will have completed the acquisition of four more conservation easements totaling 340 acres. We will have protected over 6000 acres! Funding for these came from the Maryland Rural Legacy program and from St. Mary’s County. For one easement, the owner generously donated half the value of the easement price.
Check donations can be mailed to:
PTLT
P.O. Box 1955
Leonardtown, MD 20650
BJ Bowling of Newport Farms and David Moulton discuss options for “bird-friendly” hay management
Meadow Lark singing from a tractor
Credit: Bill Hubick
Hayfields and Meadowlarks are both disappearing. We need both!
WEED WARRIORS
FIRST OF SEASON: Myrtle Point Park Invasive Plant Workday Saturday, Nov. 6, 2021
Join PTLT and Friends SATURDAY Nov. 6, 2021, to help remove invasive vines and plants to help restore the woodland. We take the warmer months off to avoid biting insects like ticks. This is a "winter sport." Dogs and children welcome :)
Bring clippers, hand saw, clippers, or your favorite tool. Wear appropriate clothing including work gloves, hat, and protective eyewear. It's a great way to get some Vit. D and fresh air, socially outdoor distanced activity, and do something good for your community...
Questions? Call Frank at 301-862-3421
When; Saturday, Nov. 6, 2021
9:00 AM to 12:00
Myrtle Point Park, 24050 Patuxent Blvd., California, MD 20619
Bottled water and snacks provided
Volunteer opportunity
Do you like to hike new places in our area? PTLT is looking for new Volunteer Property Monitors
STARTING SOON! A favorite activity for volunteers of PTLT is to hike/monitor one of our many beautiful easement properties. Monitoring is only done once a year, in the winter months. You will be trained by an existing volunteer first time around. Then you can be assigned another property(s), as you wish. Take some photos, enjoy the beautiful scenery, and get a little exercise walking. For more information, or to sign up to be a volunteer monitor, contact, Robert Willey, PTLT Monitor Coordinator.
Thank you to PTLT Supporter, Becky Benton, in a Lasting Gift to her Beloved Uncle "Dabney" 1920-2020
Rebecca Benton, St. Inigoes, MD, a long time supporter of Patuxent Tidewater Land Trust, donated to Patuxent Tidewater Land Trust in memory of "Dabney" Lloyd Edgar Kisner, Jr., age 100 and a lifelong restaurateur, hunter, fisherman, centurion, and Uncle.
As a teenager, Dabney helped his father build Kisner's Store Building where the family lived upstairs and ran the general store downstairs. He graduated from Green Bank High School where he played football.
In 1942, he entered Army Boot Camp and in 1943 received his "Wings" from flight school in Texas. In 1943 he flew his first mission from Earls Colne, England as a bombardier/navigator. After this mission he also was a co-pilot in a 5-man crew. On December 13, 1943 Dabney was shot down over Europe but it made it back to White Cliffs where the crew parachuted out. He landed in a minefield but US soldiers carried him on a stretcher unconscious to the hospital. On Dec. 24 he was released and on Christmas Day 1943 he flew another mission and then 48 more. On May 25, 1944 his B-26 was shot down over Liege, Belgium. He was rescued by the Belgium Resistance and hidden in several locations over the next 5 months. He worked with the Belgium Resistance as he helped them identify the US airplanes or enemy planes at night by the sounds of the motors. He was often hidden behind a closet door or in an attic.
2nd annual handknit blanket raffle
From PTLT Volunteer, Christina Allen:
This year, for my birthday blanket, I am knitting a cozy silk/wool Noro yarn blanket made up of colorful hexagons to benefit Patuxent Tidewater Land Trust (PTLT). The blanket is warm but lightweight. Each 5" hexagon takes about one hour to create. Keep you or your loved ones warm and wrapped in love with this special blanket.
For every $10 donation to PTLT, I'll put one raffle ticket with your name on it in a bowl. Raffle drawing will be held on Dec. 4th, 10:00 AM, at Myrtle Point Park Invasive Plant Removal PTLT event. Not required to be present to win; Curbside pickup or shipping included if you win.
I'll post Facebook updates on the blanket and record the drawing of the blanket on Dec. 4th evening. Good luck!
PTLT’s mission is to acquire and hold conservation easements on ecologically valuable land for future generations to enjoy.
Facebook pays all the processing fees for you, so 100% of your donation goes directly to the nonprofit. Since PTLT is an all volunteer board, ALL monies go towards PTLT's mission to save land, in perpetuity.
Donations/tickets can be made on my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/CornCribStudio
Thank you.
How to preserve your land for future generations
Benefits of a Conservation Easement
(Excerpt from www.mylandplan.org, American Forest Foundation)
Every conservation easement is a unique legal agreement, written specifically to fit your needs and goals. You can set up a conservation easement to:
- Protect open space or critical habitat on your land– whether it’s a family farm or ranch, wetland, pasture or forest—from encroaching development
- Preserve the agricultural value and traditional uses of your land by allowing for continued farming, ranching and timber harvesting
- Safeguard a historically or culturally important structure or area on your property
- Conserve land that has significant scenic, biodiversity or other value for the outdoor recreation or education of the public
Whether you place all or only part of your property into a conservation easement, you can expect to benefit from the agreement in several ways.
Estate tax benefits. A conservation easement that removes your land’s development potential typically lowers its market value—and that means lower taxes for the landowner. That can significantly reduce estate taxes when you pass on your property to the next generation, making it easier to keep the land in the family and intact.
Property tax benefits. By lowering your land’s value, a conservation easement can also lower your property taxes.
State and federal tax benefits. If your conservation easement is permanent, was donated—not sold—to a land trust for conservation purposes, and meets certain other IRS conditions, it can qualify as a tax-deductible charitable donation that can reduce your state and federal income taxes. The easement is treated as a donation of the development rights to your land. That means the value of the donation (and the amount of the deduction you can claim) would be the difference between the property’s market value if its development were not restricted in any way, and its value with the easement’s restrictions in place.
Permanency and control. Most easements are permanent and crafted specifically to meet your goals. Their restrictions remain in force even when the land changes hands. With the right easement terms in place, you can have the peace of mind of knowing your land will be protected as you wish well beyond your lifetime.
Although conservation easements offer significant benefits, they are not for every landowner. There are some important points to keep in mind when you consider a conservation easement.
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Patuxent Tidewater Land Trust holds conservation easement on properties in Southern Maryland where we purchase or accept donations of development rights on properties and impose other conservation-related restrictions on the land. We work closely with the landowner to make sure that easement terms are what the owner wishes – the conditions in the easement apply to all future landowners so this is the only way that landowners can be certain that the land will be kept the way that they want. It is very difficult to alter or terminate the easement, so this type of land protection is the best that exists. Other than restrictions that apply to the easement, the landowner still owns the property.
Learn More
For more information, read more by our partner, Maryland Environmental Trust (MET) .
Are we condemned to watch our birdlife disappear? No. Not as long as we’re willing to act. What can be done?
For starters, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology has suggested “7 Simple Actions” that individuals can take to protect birdlife, such as treating window glass to avoid bird collisions, keeping cats indoors, and letting your land get a little wild with native plantings
In addition, if you own a piece of land, you can add “Simple Action Number 8” -- protect your own fields, forests or farmland. Loss of habitat is the most serious cause of bird declines. Over 90 percent of the land in Maryland is in private hands, not public parks or wildlife refuges, so private landowners must be part of the solution. The land you love can be protected forever if you attach a “conservation easement” to your deed. Such easements can be facilitated through your local land trust.
In St. Mary’s County, the Patuxent Tidewater Land Trust (PTLT) has protected over 5600 acres of private land working with more than 30 willing landowners and government partners. And if you’re not a landowner, you can still protect land by contributing to your land trust. That’s what Wild Birds Unlimited has done by supporting the Patuxent Tidewater Land Trust (PTLT). You can too.
