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well. “The emphatic ‘BOB-white’ call of quail used to be wide-
spread, but now is hard to find,” says Dan Small, who is a field
ecologist with Washington College in Chestertown. “There don’t
seem to be as many fireflies or butterflies as when we were kids
and there certainly aren’t the same number of ducks as there
were in our grandfather’s youth.”
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These changes to the Eastern Shore, says Small, have re-
sulted from a combination of growing population and the rise
of intensive farming. But as troubling as the situation may be, it
can be turned around. A program known as the Natural Lands
Project, which Small coordinates, seeks to restore the rural
landscape and rebuild wildlife habitat in partnership with local
farmers. The farmers sign a ten-year contract. The cost of seed
and planting is covered, and for their participation they receive
a small incentive payment, which helps offset the loss of crop
production. Small provides some examples of how beneficial the
program will be for wildlife:
Native warm season grass plantings replace marginal
crop land, improving wildlife habitat and the water quality
downstream at the same time. Wet and poorly drained
sections of fields can be converted to wetlands which at-
tract wintering waterfowl, like the American Black Duck. A
wildflower “pollinator patch” installed close to the farm
house can create a beautiful vista that also hosts native
bees and supplies the Monarch Butterfly with the milk-
weed it needs to reproduce.
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An important part of the Natural Lands Project is the con-
struction of buffer strips, which are strips of land 100 feet (30.5
m) wide that farmers plant with grasses and wildflowers. These
buffers absorb excess chemicals, nutrients, and sediments used
in farming (known as agricultural runoff), and this prevents the
substances from entering waterways and causing environmen-
tal damage. The buffers also provide habitat for many types of
wildlife, including bobwhite quail and other species of birds, as
