MNPS Field Trip: A Southern Maryland waterfront property conservation project (Sunday)

Leaders: Anne & Jim Watson & Karyn Molines

Location: Guided tour of Southern Maryland waterfront farmland as a conservation area. Lusby, Calvert County, MD

This conservation project is on a six-acre privately owned parcel located on a peninsula on Mears Cove off the Patuxent River. The property was part of larger fallow, former tobacco and cattle farm. The property owners’ conservation processes include invasives removal, run off management using Hugelkultur practices, reforestation with native species, conversion of large lawn areas to tree groves, gardens/meadows, and the creation of oyster reefs channel-ward from a living shoreline on the waterfront. The property owners make biochar from recycled woody debris from the property which is then used as a soil amendment. The field trip will include a biochar and a Hugel trench demonstration. The most recent project is extending the riparian buffer by converting hayfields using mass tree plantings and meadow creation.

Dr. Anne Watson is a Master Gardener from a farming background. Admiral Jim Watson is a retired US Coast Guard officer with a special interest in biochar. Karyn Molines is a MNPS board member and the Southern Maryland Chapter's Conservation Advocate.

Notes: Easy with some uneven terrain with less than a one-mile walk.

ONLINE REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED. Limited to 15 people. Directions will be included in registration confirmation. Members Only Registration through 9/1/2025.  

Note that An "Account" is not A "Membership" Our website allows non-members to have a "Contact Account" to receive emails about upcoming field trips, programs, and other events. When you login, click on your name (it should be on the top right of the page); if there are no details on membership, you are have a "Contact Account" only. Consider joining to support our programs and take advantage of members-only early registration.