Farmland will remain just that thanks to easement

FLINTSTONE - The conservation easement entered into by David and Susan Trail for their Glendale Farm in eastern Allegany County assures that every morning that the sun peeks over Town Hill, even generations from now, it will shine on agricultural land.

David Trail makes no bones about it. He loves farming and he loves the 128 acres he has called home forever in the little valley of rolling hills tucked between Town Hill to the east and Green Ridge to the west.

"I was born there," Trail said, pointing downhill at an ancient, but very much intact white farm house built in 1902, as he gave a walking tour of the property on a frigid February afternoon. "The house is built there," he said, "so if it gets windy it'll blow right over top of it. You won't even feel the wind down in that bottom."

Trail is retired from the National Park Service, spending the entirety of that career with the C&O Canal National Historical Park where he finished as the park's environmental compliance officer. Susan, too, works for the agency, and is director of the Monocacy National Battlefield.

The conservation easement is permanent and is a result of negotiations among the Trails, The Nature Conservancy and the Maryland Environmental Trust.

Donnelle Keech, who works for the conservancy out of Cumberland, said this particular easement is unique in that it came about using private funds.

"We had money from donations and paid the Trails $321,700 for the easement," Keech said. "The money actually paid for only a portion of the easement. The Trails donated the remainder of the land."

Keech calls such easements win-win operations. The landowners retain the rights to create a family business or to build additional agricultural structures.

"We're going to build a waste management building and reuse the manure on the farm. We'll put up a new hay barn beside it," Trail said.

On the other hand, the easement forbids the construction of commercial buildings or use of the property for commercial endeavors other than farming. Although clear-cutting is not permitted, forest land may be managed.

Bottom line, according to Keech, is that the easement helps to protect streams such as Fifteen Mile Creek and Sideling Hill Creek, which the concervancy describes as valuable ecosystems. The Trails' property has waterways that flow to both streams.

"I got my first lesson in conservation when I was young and on the tractor and plowed through a waterway and my father scolded me for it," Trail said, referring to a drainage that allows rainwater to flow through the inclined fields. "I learned from that."

Most conservation easements come about via public money. Keech is attempting to establish a Rural Legacy Program, via the Department of Natural Resources, in Allegany County, the only county in the state, she says, that is not in the program. The county commissioners are being asked to support the effort.

Trail looks uphill, past the Black Angus - he has about 80 of them during the spring, summer and fall - and to a cleared field. "I remember pulling out the last stump in that field with my father when we were clearing it," he said.

"I'm the third generation to farm this land," Trail said, seemingly oblivious to the gelid winter wind that turned the nearby thermometer into a liar. The Trail family purchased the farm from Dennis Wigfield during the time of The Great De-pression. The farm dates back to the mid-1850s. Currently, there are 70 acres of hay and grass and 58 of forest.

Whether the land is sold or kept in the family, the conservation easement stays with the property, meaning that things such as the riparian buffer on both sides of the rivulet that heads toward Pennsylvania and eventually Sideling Hill Creek will continue to have grass and trees on its banks. The existence of the grass and the trees means Trail will be able to keep marveling at the sight of nesting turkeys in the spring.

"I jumped a hen off a nest that had eggs in July and couldn't believe it," Trail said, referring to the fact that most nesting takes place much earlier in the year.

"These conservation easements are amazing tools," Keech said. "I've dealt with landowners who were having difficulty with farms they inherited. They felt guilty that they were letting their ancestors down. Easements have been able to help with some of those situations."

Easements come in a variety of forms and require dealing with a number of different agencies and organizations. Keech said she realizes breaking through the information barrier can be difficult and stands ready to assist interested landowners by pointing them in the proper direction. She may be contacted at (301) 722-0313.

"David came looking for us," Keech said. "He wanted a conservation easement. The Trails are leaders in the local conservation community."

"The easement is very important to me," Trail said. "I don't want anybody in the future plowing through a waterway," he added, grinning. Lesson learned.

Contact Michael A. Sawyers at msawyers@times-news.com.