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The Abell Foundation supports organizations
that are working to protect and preserve Maryland's natural resources.
Partnering with the public and private sectors, the Foundation places
special emphasis on those initiatives supporting ecosystem-wide
conservation programs, including the protection of forests, wetlands, agricultural
lands, watersheds and air and water quality.
The Foundation also focuses attention on specific statewide projects such as
Maryland's Smart Growth, Rural Legacy, Green Print Program Open Space, Keep the Dirt Out Campaign and Legal Enforcement Project initiatives.
Areas of interest include:
- watershed, natural resource, and habitat
protection
- environmental education
- advocacy for clean air and clean water
- land acquisition
- technical assistance for planning sustainable
communities
Learn more about the conservation and environment
initiatives funded by The Abell Foundation by visiting Publications/Research.
More information is also available in our Highlights below.
Conservation & Environment Highlights
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1000
Friends of Maryland
Formed as a statewide coalition of environmental groups, businesses,
developers, agricultural and historic preservation organizations,
1000 Friends work to preserve natural resources while encouraging
sensible growth. 1000 Friends has become an effective voice against
haphazard development and a strong advocate for reinvestment in
older communities while preserving open spaces. Its recent publication
"Guide
to Stopping Bad Development" provides detailed steps to
be taken to gain a fundamental understanding of legal issues that
arise with land use changes. As the result of a major redirection
of Maryland's Program Open Space funding to the state's General
Fund, 1000 Friends spearheaded a coalition of environmental organizations
to strategize ways to restore funding for the intended purpose,
the acquisition of undeveloped land for permanent protection. Over
a two-year period, Partners for Open Space with participation of
132 environmental groups, successfully engaged in rallying public
support to urge the restoration of full funding for Program Open
Space.
As Program Open Space funds continued to be in jeopardy as the result
of budget cuts and a sluggish economy, their
155-member coalition, Partners for Open Space, launched The
Campaign to Maintain Land Conservation Funding and Restore Land
Acquisition Priorities. To achieve increased capacity of the coalition,
their efforts focused on expanding their effort on updating their
website, sending email alerts and E-newsletters to over 30,000, developing pertinent
campaign educational materials, stepping up media briefings and
providing speakers at public forums.
Partners for Open Space sought to restore confidence with the State
Board of Public Works, the press and Maryland citizens that
Program Open Space funds would be strategically spent on priority
properties that have high-value environment, natural resource and recreation attributes. The Partners are also participating
in a work group with the Department of Natural Resources to develop
funding solutions for long-term maintenance and operating budgets for state forests
and parks.
These efforts have proven to be effective as in FY 2010, as no dedicated Program Open Space funds were diverted to the state's General Fund. In anticipation of the 2011 Legislative Session, the Partners will be developing strategies to recover all of the $480 million Program Open Space funding that had been diverted from FY 2002 through FY 2006.
American
Farmland Trust
Dedicated to conserving farmland and promoting economic viability
of the agricultural sector, the American Farmland Trust (AFT) has worked
closely the Maryland Department of Agriculture, The Center of Agro-Ecology
and the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development
to formulate a vision for the future. Former Governor Erhlich, recognizing
the need for a statewide strategic plan, appointed 28 representatives
to his Agricultural Commission and asked AFT to facilitate eight
listening sessions around the state to bring light to key concerns.
As a result of the findings, AFT worked with the Agricultural Commission
to develop 30 comprehensive policy recommendations in A
Statewide Plan for Agricultural Policy and Resource Management in 2006.
In 2006, the plan emphasizes the need for continued farmland protection,
increased farm productivity, reduction of tax burdens, expansion
of local markets, technical assistance for new and next generation
farmers on best practices, and improvement of agricultural conservation
stewardship activities. A representative from the American Farmland
Trust has been serving on Governor O’Malley’s Implementation
Committee to refine state farm policies that support efforts to maintain
the state agricultural land base and to promote the economic viability
of the agricultural sector.
In 2008, AFT healed to convene the Governor's Implementation Committee to track the significant progress in meeting 109 of the recommendations set forth in the 2006 Maryland Statewide Plan for Agriculture and Resource Management. Most recently, AFT helped coordinate the Governor's 2010 Agricultural Forum to set in motion an agricultural agenda for the next 15 years.
AFT has recently developed voluntary strategies, such as the best Management Practices (BMPs) Challenge for Nitrogen Reduction, encouraging farmers to adopt more environmentally responsible farming methods. In May AFT launched a pilot project in Cecil County, involving ten willing farmers. The purpose of the pilot project is to determine the effect of controlled and reduced application of fertilizers on the yield of the crops. Monetary incentives, the conerstone of the project, will not only serve as guarantees for limiting farmers' risk but will help engage and encourage voluntary-based actions toward cleaning up the Bay.
Center
for Watershed Protection
Best known for its watershed planning services, the Center for
Watershed Protection has worked with local county governments, consultants
as well as watershed partners. They offer comprehensive technical
information for effective application, innovative planning demonstration
projects, recommendation for best practices and tools to protect
and restore watersheds. Its "Better
Site Design" program became the core agenda for their "Builders
of the Bay" initiatives, focusing on the review of existing
county codes and ordinances. As a result of a nine-month review
and consensus-building period, the site planning roundtables, consisting
of developers, government officials, community leaders and environmentalists,
were asked to come up with recommended changes for their county
codes and ordinances that would be more environmentally friendly
and economically prudent.
Building on the success of the roundtable format held
in Frederick, Harford and Baltimore counties, the Center has now
been encouraged to work collaboratively with the Baltimore Harbor, Herring Run and the Jones Falls Watershed Associations to develop comprehensive watershed management
plans across jurisdictional boundaries. These efforts include
conducting a storm-water retrofitting inventory developing a management
plan and providing services for pollution prevention demonstration
projects at places such as Poly and Western High schools in Baltimore. Specifically the Center has provided direction on the
construction of neighborhood and school rain gardens and two bio-retention ponds in the
Herring Run Watershed.
The Center also has developed conceptual retrofit designs for both Poly and Western High Schools, treating storm water runoff and bio-retention areas by incorporating them in areas between the existing parking lot rows.
Chesapeake
Climate Action Network
Launched in 2002, Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN) has focused
its efforts on educating citizens about the trend of global warming
and options for renewable energy. CCAN had taken a lead role in
the Clean Air Coalition in informing citizens about the benefits
of the Maryland Healthy Air Act that passed in January 2006. The
Act now requires coal-fired power plants to install pollution-control
technology to reduce air pollutants contributing to global warming.
CCAN then promoted an educational campaign through grassroots efforts
for the state of Maryland to adopt California-model clean-car standards.
Maryland's Clean Car Act of 2007 has been the first local major step for the reduction of rising carbon-dioxide levels and lowering fossil fuel
consumption in the future. Their 2008 and 2009
agendas focused on the Green House Gas Emission Reduction Act
of 2009, requiring greenhouse gases be reduced 25% from the 2006 levels
by 2020.
In Partnership with the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP), CCAN's most recent initiative, Open Government Project, is designed for identification of community-based organizations and citizens, located in communities impacted by polluting coal-burning power plants. Though their community organizing activities they have sought citizens to serve as plaintiffs in citizen enforcement lawsuits undertaken by EIP, against fragrant polluters. They also are building a network of informed citizens to mobilize for institutional reform of Maryland department of the Environment's permitting and enforcement practices by organizing public comments, testimonies at permit hearings and targeted media coverage.
Environmental
Integrity Project
As an advocate for more effective enforcement of environmental laws,
the Environmental Integrity Project is actively pursuing clean-ups
of Maryland 11 dirtiest coal-fired power plants in an effort to
reduce harmful toxic emissions. In partnership with the Maryland
Clean Air Coalition, the Project continues to review permitting files,
prepare violation notices and educate key state legislators
about the need to require the clean up of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen
oxide, mercury and carbon dioxide emission. As a result of these
collaborative efforts, the state of Maryland passed one of the nation's
toughest clean air legislation to improve the quality of air and
health of the state's citizenry, Maryland's Healthy Air Act of 2007.
The new regulations call for a 90-percent reduction in mercury emissions,
80-percent cut in sulfur dioxide, 65-percent reduction in nitrogen
oxide and 10-percent reduction of carbon dioxide from 2002 levels by 2013.
Waterkeepers Chesapeake
As a coalition of fifteen independent Waterkeeper programs (eight
located in Maryland), Waterkeepers Chesapeake is working to coordinate
and develop local programs to protect and restore the Chesapeake
and its tributaries. By encouraging the modestly staffed local program
to share resources and leverage their individual strengths, Waterkeepers
Chesapeake anticipates increased regional capacity for monitoring
and enforcing clean water regulations.
In response to Maryland’s Stormwater Management
Act of 2007, Waterkeepers Chesapeake and the coalition have launched
“Get Out the Dirt” Campaign, an initiative developed
to abate pollution from storm water run-off, a major contributor
to the Bay’s degraded water quality. Waterkeepers Chesapeake
has assembled training materials and scheduled periodic training
sessions for volunteer monitors. The data collected from blatant
storm water violations in the watersheds will serve as a platform
to advocate for revision in weak policies, regulations and permitting
processes. When appropriate, Waterkeepers will join other conservation
groups to seek legal challenges to infractions of general construction,
industrial and municipal permits as well as loose regulations of
the EPA. Mobilizing an increased number of citizens in the compliance and
environmental enforcement process, Waterkeepers Chesapeake intends
to have a positive impact on the improving the water quality of
the streams and rivers of the Bay.
Visit the Grantmaking
section to learn about the steps involved in making a grant application
and to see other recently
funded grants.
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