The Conservancy for Charles County holds perpetual conservation easements on over 1,400 acres, all donated by property owners. Most easements are held in conjunction with the Maryland Environmental Trust, but the Conservancy is the sole grantee for several.
The protected properties are in many different areas of the county and range in size from eleven acres to 328 acres. In each case the land demonstrates outstanding conservation values.

Special preservation projects

The Conservancy has played a critical role in several notable land preservation projects.
For example, in 2001 we stepped in when the 189-acre farmland surrounding the historic Dr. Samuel A. Mudd House and Museum was about to be turned into a residential development. 
Recognizing that this would forever alter the historic landscape and make an awkward small island of the much-visited museum, we persuaded the county government to purchase the land using Rural Legacy funds. This was a win-win outcome all around. The developer, although giving up the building project, realized the proceeds from the sale. The nonprofit organization that operates the museum, the Dr. Samuel A. Mudd Society, could rest secure that the site would retain its historic character. The county was able to take credit for a significant Rural Legacy achievement. Most important, the public reaped an important benefit that will last long into the future. Hundreds of tourists every year will be able to see the land just as it was when it was owned and farmed by the physician who set the broken leg of John Wilkes Booth, President Lincoln's assassin.
The Conservancy also laid the groundwork for enhanced protection of land along the Potomac River directly across from Mount Vernon in Virginia. We worked closely with the owners, the National Park Service, and Mount Vernon to develop a plan that would assure that no structure could ever be built on the property that would mar the overview from Mount Vernon. The 77-acre property is also noted for its handsome forest and for its Colonial era farmhouse, which has been carefully preserved.
We contributed actively to ongoing efforts to preserve the natural and historic treasures of Chapman Forest, a 2250-acre state park and preserve in western Charles County on the Potomac River. We lent our efforts to halt a massive sand-and-gravel mining project that imperiled land and water quality in Nanjemoy and participated with the citizens of this still rural part of the county in their development of  a vision for the future of their community.
 

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Copyright © 2005-2007 Conservancy for Charles County, Inc.