Saltworks Creek Watershed
Beside one of Anne Arundel County, Maryland’s busiest corridors, across from the Annapolis Mall, 47 acres of forest in the Saltworks Creek watershed are now permanently protected.
Photo by Anne Arundel coun
The newly conserved land sits within a key tributary of the Severn River and connects to a larger 277-acre area of protected forest. It will help filter stormwater, support wildlife habitat and provide more opportunities for people to experience nature.
Working with the Chesapeake Bay Program, the U.S. Forest Service, and other partners, Chesapeake Conservancy developed high-resolution land cover data showing that the county lost a net of 1,467 acres of tree cover to developed lands between 2013 and 2021.
This property was also identified as a priority area in Maryland’s Habitat Connectivity Network—a partnership between Maryland Department of Natural Resources and Chesapeake Conservancy—to better understand where critical habitats exist, how they are connected and how they have changed over time.
The Maryland the Beautiful Act of 2023 established goals to conserve 30% of the state’s land by 2030 and 40% by 2040. In 2024, Maryland Governor Wes Moore announced that the state had met the 30% land conservation goal. Meeting the ambitious 40% by 2040 goal requires an additional 600,000 acres. Conservation successes like this help bring that goal within reach, acre by acre.
Chesapeake Conservancy purchased 20 acres of land using private funds generously provided by the Earl family. The property was then placed under a permanent conservation easement held by Scenic Rivers Land Trust, supported by Anne Arundel County’s Forestry and Forested Land Protection Grant Program administered by the Chesapeake Bay Trust. The land was subsequently donated to the county and will be known as the Earl Family Preserve.
An adjacent 27-acre parcel was also protected through a combination of county, state and federal funding, including support from the federal Department of Defense Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration (REPI) Program. That parcel is now permanently protected under a conservation easement held by the U.S. Navy.
Chesapeake Conservancy thanks Anne Arundel County, REPI, Scenic Rivers Land Trust, Chesapeake Bay Trust and the Earl family for making this conservation success story possible.
