BERLIN– A planned trail way connecting the town to the Assateague Island National Seashore could be moving closer to reality.
The Lower Shore Land Trust is applying for a portion of the $900,000 in grant money being made available by the State of Maryland as part of the Federal Lands Access Program.
LSLT executive director Kate Patton hatched the idea while doing community outreach on another project.
“We found people were interested in a lot of different things – we talked about recycling and energy savings and land conversation,” she said. “People were wanting to have access to the outdoors through trails; we live in a very rural area, but there’s limited public access. You can go to Assateague; we go down to Furnace Town and there’s a half-mile loop down there on the Paul Leifer trail. There’s Pemberton Farms. There’s a small park in West Ocean City. But you’re very limited if you want to get out and do some serious hiking. We were hearing that – hearing that people wanted to hike and to bike off road and have safer access. So we did a couple of workshops exploring what people were interested in.”
The workshops were open to the public, and Worcester County commissioners and Berlin government officials were invited.
“From those public workshops we wanted to find a focus, and we realized that it made sense to focus around the Berlin area, a greenbelt around the Berlin municipality and then the corridor trail,” Patton said.
“We ultimately determined that we wanted to take it even in the next step – not just go with what a couple of public workshops did,” Patton continued. “We wanted to do some focus groups with some of our major stakeholders, which was the national park, the Maryland Coastal Bays program, the Town of Berlin, the health department, the International Mountain Bike Association and the police.”
Separate focus groups were held discussing those three sectors, and the Walkable Bikeable Berlin Master Plan was developed.
“It can really have a positive impact on the economy, natural resources and health and wellness,” Patton said. “So, for the Lower Shore Land Trust, an initiative like this is really, really exciting because it combines the community and land protection, and brings it together where we’re actually working together to get people outside, finding areas you can encourage public access to and really promote a more healthy lifestyle.
“It also allows us to work with a lot of different partners,” Patton continued. “Normally on conservation projects we may be working mostly with natural resource stakeholders and this gives us a wider breadth of partners to work with, so it’s pretty exciting.”
Work on the project initially began in 2011 with immediate goals of creating of off-road trails, enhancing safety signage and connecting Berlin and Assateague.
“The backbone of our work is conservation easements, so we bring that to this party so that we’re able to negotiate and work with land owners that may be interested in some kind of compensation for reducing or eliminating their development potential along the corridor,” Patton said. “There’s nothing that would be more disheartening to see that corridor, which is really for the most part a pretty scenic corridor, change significantly. That’s the entranceway to one of the most beautiful parks in the state that happens to be both a federal and a state park side by side. We have an opportunity now to start working on that, to maintain that heritage.”
Originally an art school student, Patton became involved in the environmental movement in the 1980’s.
“I ended up working for an environmental organization out of school and learning enough to be dangerous, but I lived it and breathed it and got burned out,” she said.
Patton considered returning to art school, but ended up moving to the Berlin area instead.
“I thought, okay, I’ll leave the organization and come take a breather and regroup and get out west and go get my Ph.D. But I never left,” she said. “My grandmother was still living, my parents had just moved here, my dad had just purchased the Globe Theater and was beginning restoration of that eyesore. He tricked me into staying and I worked with him on the restoration, and then I ended up opening my own business in there and ultimately I took over that whole building and business and ran a retail book and gift store with a coffeehouse / music venue and art gallery.”
The Globe was given the Governor’s Award of Excellent for the Arts in Small Business in 2001.
“My family goes back many generations,” Patton said. “When you see your grandparents getting older and losing them and your parents aging and you love their stories and you kind of get connected to some roots that you weren’t aware that you cared so much about. I also loved the rural area. I grew up in a pretty rural area outside of Philadelphia riding horses, ponies, fox hunting. I always loved that and I would much rather be outside than inside. So when I came down here the opportunity to work in a small town and have access to kayaking and these beautiful places was really an appeal.”
Patton sold the Globe in 2006 and returned to her work on conservation, working largely on her own to develop the LSLT. The National Park Service’s Chesapeake Bay program initially provided some technical support, and volunteers and interns have helped monitor the more than 100 conservation easements on the lower shore.
“It’s really encouraging people to get outside and take advantage of the resources we have right now and let us know what they are interested and what they want to see,” Patton said.
The Assateague Gateway Trail Project received support from the Berlin Town Council in April. On May 6 the Worcester County Commissioners also agreed to support the project and will submit the grant on Patton’s behalf. The grant must be submitted by May 16. Results will be announced this summer.
“If we don’t get it, it’s not the end of the world,” Patton said. “There are a couple of other grant projects that are out there that are also due June and July. They won’t provide the funding to purchase the scenic easements, but they could help us with signage and trail heads and bike racks. Things that are going to make a difference in the short term are getting some of those amenities out there.”
Patton hopes the town and its citizens will continue to support her conservation efforts.
“Over the next two and three years is when we’re going to need help in terms of getting people out to help us build trails, to help us put up signs – we’re going to want public involvement,” she said. “To get to that point right now – send money! We’re a struggling nonprofit. And I want to know what people want and what’s important to them. We have these amazing properties for recreation and we’ve got to figure out how to work with these public spaces – to use them, to connect with them, to provide more habitats on them.
“I think we’re on the right track,” Patton continued. “I’m really excited that people care enough about this and are really interested to do this. I think Berlin right now is poised to have this type of offerings.”
Patton said other projects being considered by the town, including the Tyson’s Park proposal, are also encouraging signs.
“I think we have an opportunity right now to potentially add another park, which is needed,” Patton said. “We know that we are growing; we know that this opportunity won’t come along again in this kind of situation where we have some existing infrastructure and the proximity. It’s a great opportunity. The economic boost that we could get from these types of outdoor recreation projects is great. The tourism numbers that we do are already huge, and partnering with Assateague and Ocean City will only boost that.”
For more information call 410-641-4467 or visit www.lowershorelandtrust.org.
The Lower Shore Land Trust is applying for a portion of the $900,000 in grant money being made available by the State of Maryland as part of the Federal Lands Access Program.
LSLT executive director Kate Patton hatched the idea while doing community outreach on another project.
“We found people were interested in a lot of different things – we talked about recycling and energy savings and land conversation,” she said. “People were wanting to have access to the outdoors through trails; we live in a very rural area, but there’s limited public access. You can go to Assateague; we go down to Furnace Town and there’s a half-mile loop down there on the Paul Leifer trail. There’s Pemberton Farms. There’s a small park in West Ocean City. But you’re very limited if you want to get out and do some serious hiking. We were hearing that – hearing that people wanted to hike and to bike off road and have safer access. So we did a couple of workshops exploring what people were interested in.”
The workshops were open to the public, and Worcester County commissioners and Berlin government officials were invited.
“From those public workshops we wanted to find a focus, and we realized that it made sense to focus around the Berlin area, a greenbelt around the Berlin municipality and then the corridor trail,” Patton said.
“We ultimately determined that we wanted to take it even in the next step – not just go with what a couple of public workshops did,” Patton continued. “We wanted to do some focus groups with some of our major stakeholders, which was the national park, the Maryland Coastal Bays program, the Town of Berlin, the health department, the International Mountain Bike Association and the police.”
Separate focus groups were held discussing those three sectors, and the Walkable Bikeable Berlin Master Plan was developed.
“It can really have a positive impact on the economy, natural resources and health and wellness,” Patton said. “So, for the Lower Shore Land Trust, an initiative like this is really, really exciting because it combines the community and land protection, and brings it together where we’re actually working together to get people outside, finding areas you can encourage public access to and really promote a more healthy lifestyle.
“It also allows us to work with a lot of different partners,” Patton continued. “Normally on conservation projects we may be working mostly with natural resource stakeholders and this gives us a wider breadth of partners to work with, so it’s pretty exciting.”
Work on the project initially began in 2011 with immediate goals of creating of off-road trails, enhancing safety signage and connecting Berlin and Assateague.
“The backbone of our work is conservation easements, so we bring that to this party so that we’re able to negotiate and work with land owners that may be interested in some kind of compensation for reducing or eliminating their development potential along the corridor,” Patton said. “There’s nothing that would be more disheartening to see that corridor, which is really for the most part a pretty scenic corridor, change significantly. That’s the entranceway to one of the most beautiful parks in the state that happens to be both a federal and a state park side by side. We have an opportunity now to start working on that, to maintain that heritage.”
Originally an art school student, Patton became involved in the environmental movement in the 1980’s.
“I ended up working for an environmental organization out of school and learning enough to be dangerous, but I lived it and breathed it and got burned out,” she said.
Patton considered returning to art school, but ended up moving to the Berlin area instead.
“I thought, okay, I’ll leave the organization and come take a breather and regroup and get out west and go get my Ph.D. But I never left,” she said. “My grandmother was still living, my parents had just moved here, my dad had just purchased the Globe Theater and was beginning restoration of that eyesore. He tricked me into staying and I worked with him on the restoration, and then I ended up opening my own business in there and ultimately I took over that whole building and business and ran a retail book and gift store with a coffeehouse / music venue and art gallery.”
The Globe was given the Governor’s Award of Excellent for the Arts in Small Business in 2001.
“My family goes back many generations,” Patton said. “When you see your grandparents getting older and losing them and your parents aging and you love their stories and you kind of get connected to some roots that you weren’t aware that you cared so much about. I also loved the rural area. I grew up in a pretty rural area outside of Philadelphia riding horses, ponies, fox hunting. I always loved that and I would much rather be outside than inside. So when I came down here the opportunity to work in a small town and have access to kayaking and these beautiful places was really an appeal.”
Patton sold the Globe in 2006 and returned to her work on conservation, working largely on her own to develop the LSLT. The National Park Service’s Chesapeake Bay program initially provided some technical support, and volunteers and interns have helped monitor the more than 100 conservation easements on the lower shore.
“It’s really encouraging people to get outside and take advantage of the resources we have right now and let us know what they are interested and what they want to see,” Patton said.
The Assateague Gateway Trail Project received support from the Berlin Town Council in April. On May 6 the Worcester County Commissioners also agreed to support the project and will submit the grant on Patton’s behalf. The grant must be submitted by May 16. Results will be announced this summer.
“If we don’t get it, it’s not the end of the world,” Patton said. “There are a couple of other grant projects that are out there that are also due June and July. They won’t provide the funding to purchase the scenic easements, but they could help us with signage and trail heads and bike racks. Things that are going to make a difference in the short term are getting some of those amenities out there.”
Patton hopes the town and its citizens will continue to support her conservation efforts.
“Over the next two and three years is when we’re going to need help in terms of getting people out to help us build trails, to help us put up signs – we’re going to want public involvement,” she said. “To get to that point right now – send money! We’re a struggling nonprofit. And I want to know what people want and what’s important to them. We have these amazing properties for recreation and we’ve got to figure out how to work with these public spaces – to use them, to connect with them, to provide more habitats on them.
“I think we’re on the right track,” Patton continued. “I’m really excited that people care enough about this and are really interested to do this. I think Berlin right now is poised to have this type of offerings.”
Patton said other projects being considered by the town, including the Tyson’s Park proposal, are also encouraging signs.
“I think we have an opportunity right now to potentially add another park, which is needed,” Patton said. “We know that we are growing; we know that this opportunity won’t come along again in this kind of situation where we have some existing infrastructure and the proximity. It’s a great opportunity. The economic boost that we could get from these types of outdoor recreation projects is great. The tourism numbers that we do are already huge, and partnering with Assateague and Ocean City will only boost that.”
For more information call 410-641-4467 or visit www.lowershorelandtrust.org.