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Impact 2021 - Change is Here

Maryland / DC

A woman wearing a yellow rain slicker and tall rubber boots leans into the wind as she walks through ankle deep water on a flooded street.
Change is Here A woman walks down a flooded street in Tylerton, Smith Island (MD) during an exceptionally high tide caused by a nor’easter that buffeted the Chesapeake Bay. © Dave Harp
MD/DC Executive Director Tim Purinton.
Tim Purinton Executive Director © Severn Smith / TNC

From the Director

Impact 2021: Change is Here

Climate change isn’t a distant threat—it’s happening now. 

In the United States and all around the world we are seeing the impacts: the accelerated melting of our polar ice caps, deadly heat waves, catastrophic droughts and wildfires, and more frequent and intense storms hitting our coasts—just to name a few symptoms. 

The good news is that nature can help. 

Climate change isn’t a distant threat—it’s happening now. 

In the United States and all around the world we are seeing the impacts: the accelerated melting of our polar ice caps, deadly heat waves, catastrophic droughts and wildfires, and more frequent and intense storms hitting our coasts—just to name a few symptoms. 

The good news is that nature can help. 

To match the urgency of this crisis, The Nature Conservancy—including the Maryland/DC chapter—has prioritized innovative solutions that maximize nature’s ability to fight climate change while bolstering resilience for our most precious ecosystems and vulnerable communities.

In 2018, the Maryland/DC chapter launched an ambitious, five-year capital campaign to finance a science-based strategic plan to tackle climate change and protect clean water for the Chesapeake Bay—two conservation priorities where we know our local actions will have the greatest regional and global impacts. 

The “Change is Here” five-year, $70-million capital campaign is now more than halfway complete and—thanks to the generous support of some of our most committed donors—I’m thrilled to announce that we have reached nearly 70 percent of our goal.

This impact report highlights some of the chapter’s greatest accomplishments from the past year—accomplishments that were achieved through the focus and energy generated by the Change is Here campaign. As we look ahead at the work we have left to accomplish over the next two years, it’s critical that we reach our private fundraising goal so that we can continue to use those gifts to leverage public dollars and impact investments. 

It’s the combination of these funding sources that allows us to have the outsized impact for which The Nature Conservancy is known. Together with supporters like you, we will work with global colleagues to ensure that our legacy is one of action. Join us to be a part of the greatest success story in the history of the planet.

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Together with supporters like you, we will work with global colleagues to ensure that our legacy is one of action. Join us to be a part of the greatest success story in the history of the planet.

Tim Purinton Executive Director, The Nature Conservancy in Maryland and DC
Water rushes over a series of rocky falls cascading in white water into a pool below. The river banks are lined with tall trees with red autumn leaves.
Natural Treasures Great Falls Park in autumn. © Kent Mason

2021 Impact Report: What's Inside

A man wearing a blue shirt sits in the cab of a tractor. Two small computer display screens sit in front of him behind the steering wheel providing information to help him apply fertilizer to his crop
Precision Agriculture Maryland farmer Jon Quinn uses technology to ensure the precision application of nutrients on the land. © Isaac Shaw

We Transform Agriculture

Our goal: to support an agricultural economy where farms provide healthy food, clean water and resiliency to climate change, and support a healthy Chesapeake Bay where people and nature thrive.

A woman wearing a black face mask kneels on the ground next to a row of red spruce seedlings. Two large cardboard boxes rest on the ground next to her.
Restoring Red Spruce Restoration and Public Lands Manager Katy Barlow checks on genetically diverse red spruce seedlings during a planting in Western Maryland in 2021. © Matt Kane / TNC

We Restore Forests

Our Goal: To conserve and strengthen our piece of the Appalachians—a critical migratory corridor for mammals, birds and amphibians.

Storm water rushes down a city street into a storm drain. Cars in the background try to navigate the flooded street.
Stormwater Runoff Stormwater pollution is caused when rainwater falls on impervious surfaces where it mixes with pollutants before flowing into our cities' sewer systems and rivers. © Tyrone Turner

We Build Green Cities

Washington, D.C. Goals: A robust stormwater retention credit (SRC) market catalyzed by construction of green infrastructure projects and sale of stormwater credits.

Baltimore Goals: city-wide investments in infrastructure improvements prioritizing nature-based solutions to reduce stormwater runoff impacts on water quality and local flooding and improve coastal climate resilience.

A woman stands in thigh deep water recording observations in a notebook. Slight ripples are visible on the otherwise still surface of the water.
Studying Sea Level Rise Resilient Coasts Program Director Jackie Specht records data at Franklin Point State Park during a NOAA funded study into the ecological effects of sea level rise. © Jay Fleming Photography

We Strengthen Coasts

Our Goal: To ensure that Maryland’s coastal habitats and communities are resilient in the face of sea-level rise.

2021 A Year in Photos

Scenes and moments from our on-the-ground conservation work.

Support Our Work in Maryland and DC
A selfie photo of seven people standing together in a forest clearing. A woman is in the foreground holding the camera up high to get everyone in the frame.
Four people stand on the deck of a boat surrounded by bushel baskets filled with oysters. They are all gathered around an open laptop computer looking at the information displayed on the screen.
A bulbous pink bloom hangs down from a tall, thin green stem growing out of the ground between two tall curved leaves.
Two masked women wearing hardhats and yellow fire gear stand next to each other with their arm outstretched for social distancing. Thick gray smoke from a low controlled burn rises behind them.
A green and brown frog sits nestled in a fuzzy growth of green moss next to a meandering creek.
A woman wearing a black hard hat and yellow fire gear is interviewed by a TV news crew.
A man wearing a red hard hat and yellow fire gear and holding a flight control tablet stands off to the side of a large black drone preparing for takeoff.
Two small turkey chicks huddle together in a ground nest. Their brown, white and dun colored feathers provide camouflage again the brown dirt of the nest.
A small salamander with a yellow chest, green body and orange spots sits on a pile of pine needles in a shallow pool of water.
A small bird with a black and white stripped face and red fringed cockade perches on the side of a tall tree.
A selfie photo of seven people standing together in a forest clearing. A woman is in the foreground holding the camera up high to get everyone in the frame.

Restoration Monitoring: TNC and National Aquarium staff monitor the success of an Atlantic white cedar restoration project at Nassawango Creek Preserve—a partnership more than 10 years in the making. © Deborah Landau / TNC

Four people stand on the deck of a boat surrounded by bushel baskets filled with oysters. They are all gathered around an open laptop computer looking at the information displayed on the screen.

Restoring an Icon: TNC's SOAR program helps support MD's local economy, oyster restoration efforts and the health of the Chesapeake Bay. © Jay Fleming Photography

A bulbous pink bloom hangs down from a tall, thin green stem growing out of the ground between two tall curved leaves.

Pink Lady's Slipper : (Cypripedium acaule). Applying fire to the landscape has led to the return of several species of orchids at our preserves, including the crested yellow and white-fringed. © Chase McLean / TNC

Two masked women wearing hardhats and yellow fire gear stand next to each other with their arm outstretched for social distancing. Thick gray smoke from a low controlled burn rises behind them.

A Return to Burning: Deborah Landau (L) and Natasha Whetzel (R) follow Covid-19 safety protocols during a return to burning at Delaware's Middleford North Preserve, March 2021. © Matt Kane / TNC

A green and brown frog sits nestled in a fuzzy growth of green moss next to a meandering creek.

Northern Green Frog: (Lithobates clamitans melanota) Its mating call sounds like the single note of a plucked banjo. © Chase McLean / TNC

A woman wearing a black hard hat and yellow fire gear is interviewed by a TV news crew.

One Conservancy: PA/DE's Natasha Whetzel is interviewed during a controlled burn at MD's Sideling Hill Creek Preserve. Cross-chapter collaboration is a key element to conservation success. © Matt Kane / TNC

A man wearing a red hard hat and yellow fire gear and holding a flight control tablet stands off to the side of a large black drone preparing for takeoff.

Fire and Technology: MD's Chase McLean launches a drone during a controlled burn at Nassawango Creek Preserve. The drone can ignite the interior of a burn unit, enhancing safety for fire crews. © Gabe Cahalan / TNC

Two small turkey chicks huddle together in a ground nest. Their brown, white and dun colored feathers provide camouflage again the brown dirt of the nest.

Wild Turkey Chicks: (Meleagris gallopavo) in the nest at Maryland's Dorchester Pond. © Chase McLean / TNC

A small salamander with a yellow chest, green body and orange spots sits on a pile of pine needles in a shallow pool of water.

Appalachian Stronghold: The Appalachians are a hotbed for salamander biodiversity, like this red-spotted newt (Notophthalmus viridescens viridescens) at Maryland's Finzel Swamp Preserve. © Matt Kane / TNC

A small bird with a black and white stripped face and red fringed cockade perches on the side of a tall tree.

Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker: (Sphyrapicus varius) a species of woodpecker that feed at sapwells--neat rows of shallow holes they drill in tree bark. © Matt Kane / TNC

2021 Highlights

At A Glance

  • 01

    Family Forest Carbon Program

    TNC and the American Forest Foundation have partnered to create The Family Forest Carbon Program (FFCP), an initiative that is a win-win for landowners, the environment and wildlife. In 2020, the FFCP expanded to Maryland where landowners who own between 30 and 2,400 forested acres in Garrett, Allegany, Washington, Frederick or Carroll counties are now eligible to participate.

  • 02

    Restoring Red Spruce

    In the spring of 2021, a new project touched down in Western Maryland, where TNC staff, partners and contractors planted more than 10,000 genetically diverse red spruce seedlings on TNC’s Finzel Swamp and Cranesville Swamp preserves. These sites are now part of a larger initiative in the Central Appalachians and will be continually monitored and studied in order to inform future red spruce restoration

  • 03

    Sharing Findings and Research

    As the world’s leading conservation science organization, it is critical that TNC scientists and conservation practitioners disseminate important findings and research to the broader scientific community. In 2021, TNC’s Maryland/DC chapter science team published five peer-reviewed studies on topics ranging from fire ecology to soundscape monitoring to decision science. Our conservation and policy work continues to be guided by science.

  • 04

    Green Solutions for Urban Stormwater

    Through District Stormwater LLC, TNC and the Knollwood Life Plan Community have collaborated on a new green infrastructure project. The new rain garden will collect stormwater runoff from the facility’s parking lots—an estimated 3 million gallons annually—to help slow and clean the runoff before it flows into Rock Creek and ultimately into the Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay.

  • 05

    Baltimore Expansion

    In 2020, TNC expanded our Build Green Cities program to Baltimore. This fall, we were excited to announce that Isaac Hametz was hired as the Baltimore Program Director. In this role, Isaac will provide strategic leadership in directing our conservation portfolio in Baltimore and managing the new Baltimore Community Project Manager staff member.

  • 06

    Policy Success

    In the 2021 legislative session, TNC played a critical role in the passage of the Property Assessed Clean Energy Residential (PACE-R) legislation, which expands on the existing PACE program by allowing residential property owners to finance or refinance projects that remediate environmental issues, improve their properties’ resiliency, increase water efficiency, enhance electric grid resiliency, and/or improve energy efficiency.

  • 07

    Oyster Restoration

    Last year, TNC worked with private donors and other partners to purchase more than 5 million surplus farmed oysters from growers in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Maryland and Washington state. The oysters purchased from more than 20 Maryland oyster farmers were planted on three sanctuary reefs in the Chesapeake Bay, helping those reefs grow to meet restoration goals.

  • 08

    Collaborating on Regenerative Agriculture

    Matthew Houser, Ph.D., was hired as the UMD/TNC Regenerative Agriculture Fellow. His role is a new partnership between TNC and the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science to build and execute collaborative projects that will advance our collective goals in regenerative agriculture in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

  • Cover of the 2021 MD/DC Impact Report. A woman wearing a yellow rain slicker and tall rubber boots leans into the wind as she walks through ankle deep water on a flooded street.

    Change is Here: 2021 Impact Report

    A look back at conservation successes across Maryland and Washington, DC.

    DOWNLOAD
  • Cover of the Spanish translation of the 2021 MD/DC Impact Report. A woman wearing a yellow rain slicker and tall rubber boots walks through ankle deep water on a flooded street.

    El Cambio Llegó: Informe Anual de Impacto 2021

    El Cambio Llegó: Informe Anual de Impacto 2021 ahora está por descargar disponible en español!

    DOWNLOAD
Prow of a yellow kayak floating in the Chesapeake Bay. In the background a dilapidated house appears to also float on the surface of the water. It is reflected back in the rippling bay.

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