33
well as small mammals. And because of how they filter runoff,
buffers make water habitats cleaner for rockfish, oysters, and
blue crabs.
Progressive Farmers
One farmer who participates in the Natural Lands Project is
Brennan Starkey, who owns a farm on the Sassafras River in Ga-
lena, Maryland. Of his total land, 550 acres (222.6 ha) are natural
areas that are made up of woods and
wetlands. “It provides excellent habitat
for all manner of wildlife,” says Starkey.
He has been involved in various conser-
vation programs for more than twenty
years and built buffer strips throughout
the farm in 1989. He became part of
the Natural Lands Project soon after the
program was implemented and says the
reason it interested him was because “it
was a natural extension of what we were
already doing.”
34
Of special interest to Starkey was being part of the effort to
reestablish populations of bobwhite quail in the region. He has
not seen the birds around his farm for at least the past five years,
and he is eager for them to return. His farm is teeming with plenty
of other wildlife, however. “We have a very healthy population of
wild bees, butterflies, woodpeckers, herons, and eagles,”
35
he
says. Also on the Starkey farm are plenty of rabbits and foxes,
as well as wetland critters such as turtles, otters, and crayfish.
Another farmer who is involved with the Natural Lands Proj-
ect is Bob Ingersoll, who owns a farm in Chestertown. His par-
ticipation is somewhat unusual, since he has enrolled his entire
60 acres (24.3 ha) in the program. Fields that have grown hay
for more than fifteen years are now covered in native grasses
and wildflowers like blue mistflowers and chicory flowers. This
drastically changed landscape has resulted in some remarkable
differences on Ingersoll’s farm. “We have a lot more small birds
here than we did any year that I can remember, because there’s
WORDS IN
CONTEXT
buffer strips
Strips of grassland
along farm fields that
protect wildlife habi-
tats by absorbing
agricultural runoff.
