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Protecting Anne Arundel County’s Land and Water
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# Why It Matters
### Our Mission
Scenic Rivers Land Trust conserves the special forests, farms, wetlands and natural areas that sustain Anne Arundel County.
### Our Vision
We envision a landscape that supports and sustains thriving communities of wildlife and people.
### Our Values
**Integrity.** We ethically pursue our mission and uphold our easements to keep our promise to the public and retain their trust.
**Care.** We care for our lands and communities by conserving and stewarding our most precious natural resources.
**Connection**. We use land conservation to connect wildlife habitats and connect people to the landscape and the joy of nature.
**Equity.** We engage under-resourced communities to participate and belong in conservation.
**Strategic.** We strategically and thoughtfully use our resources to achieve the highest conservation impact.
**Collaboration.** We collaborate with our partners to accomplish goals that benefit our lands, waters, and communities.
### Our Goals
Scenic Rivers' work is guided by our .
We are always working to **protect more land faster** with a focus on the properties identified on our **"Top 100 Properties to Conserve"** prioritization list. We work toward this goal by:
* Identifying, monitoring and protecting priority natural areas in eight watersheds: Herring Bay, Bodkin Creek, and the Severn, South, Patuxent, Patapsco (within Anne Arundel County), Rhode, and West River watersheds;
* Educating landowners, community leaders, and public officials about voluntary techniques for protecting and conserving land;
* Accepting and managing conservation easements for the permanent protection of land; and
* Assisting in the protective stewardship of our natural resources.
### Our Governance
Scenic Rivers is governed by a volunteer  that is representative of our focus watershed areas. The Board of Directors meets every other month in Annapolis. Scenic Rivers employs  and relies on volunteer support from a variety of experts in the land trust and management fields.
We work cooperatively with the  as an authorized partner. As a partner organization, MET provides incredible expertise and mentoring, and their presence as a co-holder on larger easements offers landowners additional state tax credits.
As a nationally accredited land trust, Scenic Rivers is also in compliance with the Standards and Practices of the national .
We are supported by donations from individuals and corporations and grants from public and private foundations.
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#### Contact Information
Erin Valentine
Acting Executive Director
PO Box 2008
Annapolis, Maryland 21404
Email: exec@srlt.org
Office Phone: 410-424-4000
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# History
Scenic Rivers Land Trust is a private, nonprofit, nongovernmental body chartered as a 501(c)(3) corporation in 1988 as the Severn River Land Trust for the purpose of protecting land through voluntary land preservation agreements and educating landholders on issues of conservation and stewardship. In 2003, we changed our name to Scenic Rivers Land Trust to reflect the expansion of our work beyond the Severn River watershed. In 2007, we merged with the South County Conservation Trust further expanding the areas of the county in which we work. In 2013, Scenic Rivers consolidated with the Bay Land Trust, assuming responsibility for stewarding their conservation easements on the Bay Ridge peninsula, including the property surrounding the .
We secured our first voluntary conservation easement on a property along the Severn River in Severna Park in June of 1989. For our first 9 years, we operated as an all volunteer organization. In 1997, the first part-time staff was hired.
In 2010, we acquired our largest conservation easement, partnering with Maryland Environmental Trust to cohold an easement on 631 acres of the , the county-owned property managed by Anne Arundel County Recreation and Parks.
In recent years, Scenic Rivers has been able to leverage  to offer financial incentives to landowners seeking to conserve their property, dramatically accelerating our ability to conserve more land faster. The Grant Program has provided an average of $5,000 per acre incentive to encourage easements on forested land or land that can be planted in forest. In recent years, Scenic Rivers has conserved more than 400 acres and reforested an additional 10 acres through this program, and helped landowners be awarded $2.3 million to protect their land.
In August 2019, Scenic Rivers achieved  from  in recognition of our strong commitment to public trust and conservation excellence.
In December 2022, Scenic Rivers accepted five existing conservation easements, totaling 224 acres, from the Pasadena-based North County Land Trust (NCLT). With the transfer of these existing conservation easements, which represented NCLT’s total holdings, Scenic Rivers expanded our service area to include the Bodkin Creek and Patapsco River watersheds within northern Anne Arundel County.