Chesapeake Bay Commission Meeting November 8, 2012 Vienna Community Center Protecting the Nanticoke River: Saving the Landscape Tim Brower Land Acquisition and Planning Maryland Department of Natural Resources

In 1969 the Maryland State Legislature addressed the issue of declining open space through Legislation.

§5-902 Annotated Code of Maryland – Program Open Space Establishes a funding mechanism for Land Conservation

Sprawl Development and Loss of Farmland

The Need for Natural Resource Conservation

AT SETTLEMENT, A STATE REAL ESTATE TRANSFER TAX OF.5 % OF THE CONSIDERATION PAID IS DEPOSITED IN A SPECIAL FUND FOR LAND CONSERVATION AND RECREATION PROGRAMS Settlement Sheet Cost of Real Estate Transfer Tax

THE REAL ESTATE TRANSFER TAX FUNDS THESE PROGRAMS: Natural Resources (DNR) Open Space - Local Open Space - State Heritage Conservation Fund Baltimore City Direct Grant Rural Legacy E&C Capital Development Forest & Park Service Operations Non-DNR Programs MD Ag Land Preservation (MALPF) Heritage Areas Authority St Marys City Commission Land Trusts ORLL Debt Service

Since its inception POS has conserved more than 42,482 acres in the Nanticoke Watershed Area Totaling $90,550,130 To safeguard wildlife habitat, provide for sustainable forests, outdoor recreation, and assure the water quality of the Chesapeake Bay

State Land Acquisition (residual) Vienna Greenbelt Project : A Model Partnership Project

Over the past decade and a half, a number of organizations including the State of Maryland, Dorchester, Wicomico and Caroline Counties, The US Fish and Wildlife Service, The Conservation Fund, The Nature Conservancy, the Eastern Shore Land Conservancy, and the Nanticoke Watershed Alliance have formed a remarkable partnership to protect the globally significant resources and agricultural economy of the Nanticoke River watershed. At the heart of this partnership is the effort to balance the growth of the Town of Vienna, with the need to protect sensitive natural resource areas. The citizens of Vienna have a very clear vision for the future of their town. A key component of this strategy is to conserve lands along the outer boundaries of Vienna ensuring that the Town would be surrounded by a greenbelt of farms, forest and other natural resources. Program Open Space funds were used to conserve an initial acres as part of the Vienna Greenbelt (portions of the Layton Farm LLC and Phillips Farm LLC) located southwest of the Town of Vienna and a number a key parcels along the Waterfront Park including the future home of the John Smith Discovery Center

The Mill Creek NHA is one of only two documented sites in the State where Marsh Wild Senna has been identified, and is a wetlands of State concern DNR working in partnership with the Town of Vienna exercised a unique opportunity to permanently protect ecologically significant lands by working with the property owner to scale down the original development proposal of homes

The project resulted in reduced impervious area and significantly reduced storm water flow; coupled with recently completed restoration, reforestation and best management practices on the greenbelt lands, this scenario represents the best opportunity to protect the adjoining Mill Creek Heritage Area. 122 acres Resource Enhancement Area and Reforestation 300 ft Buffers along the Nanticoke Marsh 100 ft Buffers along Trunk Creek

A second part of the Vienna Greenbelt project will provide for the completion of the Vienna Waterfront Park ( nearly the entire waterfront in now publicly owned as a community park equally enjoyed by all; funded via POS) and the restoration/ reconstruction of the former Nanticoke Inn to serve as the Nanticoke River- John Smith Discover Center Vienna Greenbelt Project : A Model Partnership Project

The establishment of the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Water Trail by Congress in May of 2007, and the designation of Vienna as a Port of Call for the replica John Smith Shallop on its historic 1608 reenactment voyage up the Nanticoke in June of 2007 helped establish the feasibility and desirability of such a center being located at Vienna.