WICOMICO TO RECEIVE $1 MILLION IN RURAL LEGACY GRANTS

County Executive Richard M. Pollitt, Jr., announced today that the O’Malley Administration will be making $1 Million in Rural Legacy Grant funding available for land preservation in Wicomico County. Pollitt said that, “The Rural Legacy program is a great tool for us to use to save rural land in the Quantico Creek area. I am grateful that Governor O’Malley recognized our efforts with a grant amount matched only by the previous one for $1 Million in 2008.”

Wicomico County has now been awarded $5.7 Million in grant funds from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources Rural Legacy Program since 2002. The County currently has $1. 5 Million allocated to it to purchase Rural Legacy Easements. Negotiations are in process for the next easement acquisition.

$4.2 Million of Rural Legacy funds, along with $122,000 of Wicomico County Forest Conservation funds, Wicomico County Agricultural Preservation funds and private donations have been used to protect 2,126 acres of land in the Quantico Creek Rural Legacy Area by way of easement acquisition. The easements are on lands near the headwaters of Quantico Creek surrounding historic Quantico, Maryland, and prime agricultural and forest land along Royal Oak Road. 

Maryland’s Rural Legacy Program provides funding to preserve large tracts of forestry and agricultural land and natural resources, and for environmental protection while sustaining land for natural resource-based industries. Enacted by the General Assembly in 1997, Maryland’s Rural Legacy Program has, to date, provided over $206 million to protect 67,894 acres of valuable farmland, forests, and natural areas. The 11-member Rural Legacy Advisory Committee and the Rural Legacy Board, which is comprised of Maryland’s Agriculture, Natural Resources and Planning Secretaries, reviews grant applications annually. For additional information, visit www.dnr.maryland.gov/land/rurallegacy/.