Healthy Soils & Clean Water: Little Elk Creek Valley Restoration, Heritage, and a Cleaner Bay

As you look north from Telegraph Road at the 1000-acre-plus portion of the Little Elk Creek watershed, the valley opens up to fertile farm fields. Old stone and brick farmhouses follow the twisted Little Elk Creek Road to the intersection of Blake Road. It’s one of Cecil County’s most scenic byways. Telegraph Road was once the main trading route between the Nottingham lots and the Port of Newcastle.

The Beehive and Rock Church complex was the valley center for the mostly Scots-Irish farmers. Today, the valley’s three dairy farms, five grain/hay/livestock operations, two horse farms, and one cherry orchard are mostly in permanent land protection programs. In 2018, Cecil Land Trust assisted Ecosystems Investment Partners in the involvement of seven property owners in a pay-for-success stream restoration project for the Maryland State Highway Administration.

The project involved 38,115 linear feet of Little Elk Creek and its tributaries, with 107 acres of riparian buffer. The project’s goal is to remove 2,860 pounds of nitrogen, 2,600 pounds of phosphorus, and 835 tons of sediment from entering the Chesapeake Bay on an annual basis. We met up with Troy Anderson of Ecosystems Investment Partners, along the historic Little Elk Creek Valley, to talk about the lasting effects of stream restoration.

“So today we’ve done five projects, just completing two of them this year in Cecil County, Maryland. All five of them have been centered around and focused on reducing sediment, phosphorus, or nitrogen into the Chesapeake Bay.

“What ERP, Ecosystem Investment Partners, has done on all the projects that we’re doing here in Cecil County is something that we’ve coined ‘pay for success,’ where we will take a project like you see behind me and do all the design, do all the permitting, do all the construction, and do all the survey work. And we don’t take a nickel until we have the agencies come back out and certify the fact that we did what we said we were going to do.

“Historically, when we’ve been recently finished with projects, we will see a dramatic decrease in sediment almost immediately. It seems to be like clockwork. We will start to see fish repopulate. We’ll start to see amphibians coming in even faster. Habitat now has a foundation to grow from. And because of that, the food chain just kind of gets reconnected. And it’s a fabulous thing to see.”

Blake and Little Elk Creek Crossroad is the site of another conservation partnership. The Patsy duPont Foundation owns a 184-acre protected farm. Ms. duPont was very much involved in youth education through her pony club. Upon her death, she requested that her farm be used for equine and agricultural education. Cecil Land Trust and Cecil Soil Conservation have been working with the foundation in developing educational opportunities involving best management practice demonstrations and installation of riding school infrastructure.

Grace Hyder and Janet Craven Stewart of the Patsy duPont Foundation explain that the land has bordered Little Elk Creek since DuPont came here in 1945. William DuPont helped her find this farm, and she set it up. She was big into fox hunting. Stewart recalls coming here in 1963, at 13 years old, and has been involved ever since. When Patsy got older and was infirm, Stewart stayed with her and saw that she had caregivers. Together they set up the trust foundation to promote what Patsy had promoted all her life: agriculture, nature, and people experiencing the land.

In 2018, Stewart came on board to help Grace with some of her duties as assistant farm manager. They began discussing the future of the farm and decided it was time to determine its direction. With so many ideas for programming, they chose to start with the Fairview Riding Academy. Plans are underway to build a facility where people can learn to ride or simply be around animals, with a focus on benefiting local children.

Education is at the heart of this mission. They want to teach people how to care for horses, how to care for land, and to appreciate what Cecil Land Trust and Cecil Soil Conservation are doing in the Little Elk Creek watershed to improve soil and water health for the next 300 years.

There are a number of unique qualities about Long Green Farm. First, its history: the Crothers family is in its ninth generation of farming, stretching back to when William Penn and Lord Calvert disputed the Maryland–Pennsylvania line until the Mason-Dixon survey settled it in 1767. Long Green Farm sits on the southern edge of the Nottingham lots.

Second, Caleb and Alice Crothers have returned to the farm and are considering its future. The Northeast Creek—the source of drinking water for the town of Northeast—runs through the farm with 12,000 feet of tributaries and 554 acres of watershed. The farm plays a major role in water quality.

Third, in 2017, after nearly 300 years of continuous farming, the Crothers placed a permanent conservation easement on the farm. The easement encourages best management practices such as no-till or limited tillage and cover crops, which sequester carbon and build healthy soils. In 2020, stream restoration began on the 12,000 linear feet of tributaries. The project involves 45 acres of riparian buffer and will remove 8,763 pounds of nitrogen, 1,210 pounds of phosphorus, and 1,974 pounds of sediment from entering the Chesapeake Bay annually.

Caleb and Alice have been working closely with Cecil Soil Conservation on building a new heifer facility and plan to add an anaerobic digester to the farm operation. As Caleb notes, the farm was established in 1759 based on the earliest tax records. His goal is to see the farm reach its 300th anniversary while he’s still alive.

“This particular building here is what we call a covered heavy-use area. When we put the cows in here, they’re allowed to go out in a managed way. Watering facilities are provided down below. All of this keeps the cows fenced out of the stream, nutrients on the top of the hill, and prevents runoff into the water.”

The cover crop program has been the most cost-effective practice for reducing sediment and nutrients entering the bay each year. This year, 160 acres of cover crop have been planted. All of the triticale grown is used on-site to feed the cows. Stream restoration projects at Long Green Farm and Little Elk Creek will improve crossings, shore up infrastructure, and provide long-term benefits to water quality for both neighbors and downstream communities.

Clean water from these restoration projects not only benefits plants and animals but people as well. Kelly Benson, who runs Bay Venture Outfitters in Northeast, Maryland, emphasizes how important clear water is for recreation and tourism. Customers want to paddle on clean water without excessive sediment or debris. Local clean-up efforts help, but much of the sediment problem originates upstream in agricultural fields. Reducing sedimentation there directly improves the experience downstream.

As Benson explains, at low tide the mouth of the Northeast Creek can be too shallow for boats because of sediment buildup. Any improvements upstream have a huge impact on recreation and local business.

Cecil Land Trust and its partners—Cecil Soil Conservation, Ecosystems Investment Partners, Wetland Studies and Solutions, Cecil County Government, Fair Hill Rural Legacy Program, and Chesapeake and Coastal Bays Trust Fund—are proud to support the Crothers family in building a more sustainable future for Cecil County and the Chesapeake Bay.

• 00:00 – Valley Overview & History: Scenic byway, Telegraph Road, farming legacy

• 00:38 – Pay-for-Success Restoration Explained: 38,115 feet of stream & riparian buffers

• 01:50 – Immediate Ecological Wins: Fish and amphibians return, habitat restored

• 02:45 – Patsy duPont Foundation: Equine education, riding academy vision

• 05:00 – Fairview Riding Academy: Plans for facilities and youth programs

• 05:52 – Long Green Farm History: 9th generation family farm, conservation easement

• 06:43 – Best Management Practices: No-till, cover crops, nutrient management

• 07:18 – Infrastructure Upgrades: Heifer facility, anaerobic digester planning

• 08:08 – Cover Crop Program: 160 acres planted, cost-effective water protection

• 09:07 – Recreation & Community Impact: Bay Venture Outfitters, clean water for paddlers

• 10:18 – Sedimentation Issues: Upstream farming impact on Northeast Creek

• 10:56 – Partnerships: Land Trust, Soil Conservation, Ecosystem Partners, Chesapeake Bay Trust