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July - Aug. 2003 farmland preservation report Page 3 Continued from page 2 state legislature as optional for counties. The Challenge Grant Program also allows horse boarding and training facilities to qualify: This expansion of the definition of agriculture was necessary, Baer said, to respond to the nature of agriculture in the region targeted. Allowing boarding and training to qualify for farmland preservation easements is a change also being considered by the legislatures of both Pennsylvania and Delaware. Program director Kevin Baer, of the county planning commission, said the program has even attracted the attention of Amish farmers, whose traditions disallow accepting government money. One Amish farmer will be doing a like -kind exchange, which will avoid the actual receipt of funds, but allow the farmer to acquire another tract of land. York keeps 11th place Nearby York County remains in 11th place, now protecting 139 farms and 28,823 acres. The county has held 9th and 8th place in the past but competes steadily to remain in the ranking. Adding to the county program is the activity of the Farm and Natural Lands Trust of York County, which now holds easements on 4,870 acres. The FNLT is looking to arrange a series of bargain sales in Lower Windsor Township, which recently created a dedicated funding source, the first York township to do so. Seven applicants are aiming to sell easements at a maximum of 75% of fair market value on properties ranging from about 20 to 50 acres. . "Most are adjacent to an existing easement," said Jackie Kramer, FNLT executive director. "These are not looking for a lot of money. It's about saving the land." One bargain sale has been completed. Carroll County, which has ranked in the top five counties since FPR's first survey in 1993, continues to plow ahead to accumulate acres despite a Maryland funding shortfall. Carroll, for all intents and purposes, is paying for the state program to operate in Carroll, by funding state program easement purchases, but having the state co -hold the easements, according to administra- tor Bill Powel. The MALPF program will pay for incidental costs, according to MALPF adminis- trator Jim Conrad. "It will be the same as their Rural Legacy MOU," Conrad said. Carroll County has developed a tradition of steady and significant acreage accumulation backed by strong leadership and commitment of adequate funds. Since July 2000, the program has logged 4,674 MALPF acres. Baltimore County is preparing for an event in September to mark its progress in protected acres _ the 40,000 -acre mark is coming up soon as Wally Lippincott and assistant Rob Hirsch work diligently with Rural Legacy county match funds as well as MALPF offers. Baltimore County has five Rural Legacy areas, more than any other county, and the county council has recognized the multi- organi- zation popular effort by committing significant matches from general funds and sending a $4.5 million bond to successful referendum last fall. The Rural Legacy Program is administered by the state Department of Natural Resources. It awards grants to localities and land trusts for purchasing conservation easements on farm and natural lands. Three of Baltimore County's designated Rural Legacy Areas (RLAs) focus on agricultural lands, and together cover about 43,000 acres. The county has completed Rural Legacy easements on more than 6,000 acres, and many more acres in each of the RLAs are pro- tected by other programs. But the county's strength in preservation is in the number of easements donated by landowners investing in countryside estates and working farms within 20 minutes of downtown Baltimore - nearly one -third of all preserved land in the county, 12,400 acres and counting, are under easement to the Maryland Environmental Trust. Continued on page 6