Worcester County establishes Bishopville-Showell Rural Legacy Area

Rural Legacy Boundary Map

Snow Hill, Maryland – As part of ongoing efforts to protect contiguous tracts of productive farmland, Worcester County Environmental Programs (WCEP), in partnership with the Maryland Board of Public Works, has added the Bishopville-Showell area to the Worcester County Rural Legacy Area (RLA) program.

“Landowners, who depend on large, contiguous blocks of farmland and woodland areas and who were alarmed by changes in our region, urged us to create the Bishopville-Showell RLA,” WCEP Planning Manager Katherine Munson said. “The rural landscape of the northern Coastal Bays watershed is increasingly under pressure of fragmentation due to residential development and other non-compatible uses. There are a number of family farms under 50 acres that do not meet the minimum lot requirement to participate in the Marland Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation, so this new RLA area opens new doors of opportunity for them to protect their farms in perpetuity. This may be our last chance to preserve the farmland and woodland in this area.”

The Board of Public Works approved designating an 11,753-acre Bishopville-Showell RLA in Worcester County, making these lands eligible for landowners to sell easements to the county to protect farms and forests in the northern Coastal Bays Watershed. The land is highly productive, with over one-third of the area determined to be prime farmland. Local agricultural and forestry industries rely on continued viability of these farms and woodlands. Protecting the area provides access to local farm products, beautiful vistas, and preservation of a rich farming history. Preserving the land from development will also help protect water quality in the Isle of Wight and Assawoman Bays.

“Maintaining the rural landscape here is of huge importance to the local agricultural economy that depends upon contiguous farmland for productivity,” Munson said. “Continued significant residential and commercial development of these watersheds will inevitably lead to further degradation of streams, the river and the bays.”

To protect natural resources, Worcester County has developed three RLAs. The Coastal Bays (Chincoteague Bay Watershed) RLA was established in 1999. The Dividing Creek RLA, which includes the watershed in both Worcester and Somerset Counties, was established in 2008. The Bishopville-Showell RLA was added in 2024. Worcester County has protected 13,200 acres of farmland and forests to date, with a goal of protecting an additional 2,000 acres or 60% within the Bishopville-Showell RLA over the next 10 years.

The RLA program is funded through a combination of Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Program Open Space (POS) funds and State general obligation bonds, and no County match is required. These funds are used to purchase perpetual easements, which provide water quality benefits to the Coastal and Chesapeake Bays and the local watersheds.