Scenic Rivers Land Trust Newsletter, September 2019
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Protecting Anne Arundel County's Land and Water for 30 Years!
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A Letter from Our New Executive Director
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This year has been an exciting one for Scenic Rivers—we’ve reached several long-held goals and made some big changes, from redesigning our website to reaching the 3000+ acres conserved milestone to achieving national accreditation to celebrating 30 years of serving Anne Arundel County. As the new executive director, I am incredibly honored to have the opportunity to advance Scenic Rivers’ mission to conserve our natural and scenic lands as we set more ambitious goals for our future.
I grew up in Severna Park and the Severn River was my playground. As so many have done, I sailed, fished, crabbed, and skied my way through summers, and marveled at beautiful sunrises and sunsets over the river. Carefully protecting the lands, scenic views and waterways that make this county special is a cause dear to my heart.
As we head into the end of this eventful year, I am thankful for all of the support we have received along the way. Our dedicated Board of Directors has been instrumental to our recent successes, particularly the time-consuming process of applying for national accreditation. The partnerships we have with Maryland Environmental Trust, Anne Arundel County government, and Maryland Department of Natural Resources enhance and strengthen the work that we do. And, of course, without the steadfast support of our long-time champions, volunteers and generous donors, our work wouldn’t be possible.
Thank you for believing in the extraordinary power of land protection and the value of the work that we do.
Sincerely,
Sarah Knebel
PS We’ve been celebrating our 30
th
anniversary all year, but the “big party,” our first-ever
Conservation Celebration
, will take place on Thursday, October 10, 2019, at 6 pm at The Bistro at South River in Edgewater, Maryland.
Tickets are on sale now through our website.
Please consider joining us and helping us celebrate a successful year and toast to a bright future!
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New site features mobile-friendly layout designed and developed by Redstart Creative
With all of the exciting news we've had recently, this seemed like a fitting a time to make sure
our website
—the way so many people encounter our work for the first time—effectively reflects the work that we do, connects our community to the importance of land protection and inspires them to take action on behalf of our natural resources.
We worked closely with the team at
Redstart Creative
, a Baltimore-based firm with extensive experience working with nonprofits, on the redesign and we are so thankful that we chose to partner with them. Redstart took a project that is a huge undertaking for an organization of our size and resources and made it manageable—and fun! We couldn’t be happier with
the results
.
Click through
to take a tour and learn more about site's upgrades and new features!
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Get Your
Conservation Celebration
Tickets Today—Before They Sell Out!
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Scenic Rivers invites you to join us in celebrating our 30th anniversary and our recent distinction as a nationally accredited land trust at our first-ever
Conservation Celebration
fundraising gala on
Thursday, October 10, 2019, from 6 pm to 9 pm at The Bistro at South River in Edgewater, Maryland
.
Guests will enjoy:
- delicious food and drink;
- the cozy and festive fall atmosphere of The Bistro at South River’s stunning Adirondack Room;
- fantastic finds at the raffle and silent auction, from weekend getaways and unique experiences to local art and more;
- live acoustic guitar; and
- a special presentation on agroforestry from landscape designer Lincoln Smith, whose Forested, LLC, is known for its food forest feasts.
Follow our website and social media for more details, including sneak previews of raffle and silent auction items!
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Silent Auction Sneak Peek!
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Each pass can be used as Two-Day Passes or for Two Open Climb Passes for a total of four visits.
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Day on the Bay Aboard the Arcadia, generously donated and skippered by
The Brick Companies'
CEO Lex Birney, a licensed USCG captain.
Leaving from Annapolis aboard the 51 foot custom sloop, your party of six to eight passengers will enjoy a picnic lunch cruise on the Chesapeake Bay.
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Thank you to these generous sponsors for supporting our Conservation Celebration!
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Thank you to the tax, legal and real estate professionals who joined us for our annual Conservation Easement Breakfast Briefing!
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We had a great turn out this week for our annual
Conservation Easement Breakfast Briefing for Tax, Legal and Real Estate Professionals
.
Local experts and interested professional service providers gathered for a complimentary buffet breakfast and an overview of the legal, tax and funding framework of conservation easements at the Federal House Bar & Grille in Annapolis.
Thank you again to those who joined us! And, of course, a big thank you to our presenters who donated their time, including:
- Nina Fisher, Scenic Rivers Land Trust, Board President
- Ben Wechsler, Linowes and Blocher, Partner
- Kristen Maneval, Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, Senior Transactions Counsel
- Dick Davies, CohnReznick, Partner
- David Ballard, Champion Financial Planning Group, President
This free educational event was made possible by
BGE, an Exelon Company, Keep Maryland Beautiful, Maryland Environmental Trust, Maryland Department of Transportation and the Paul and Maxine Frohring Foundation.
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Save the Date:
Kick Off the Holiday Shopping Season at a "Party with a Purpose"!
Join Us on Thursday, November 14, 2019 at Mango + Main
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Relax with friends and recharge
before
the rush of the holiday shopping season with Scenic Rivers Land Trust at a
private shopping event at
Mango + Main
, a new locally-owned fair-trade boutique on Annapolis' historic Maryland Avenue.
This event is truly a win-win-win!
By joining us for cocktails, light refreshments and an evening of shopping Mango + Main's global collection of beautiful, handmade products you will be:
- Checking items off your holiday to-do list;
- Supporting a new, woman-owned business in downtown Annapolis;
- Helping artisan entrepreneurs in places like Haiti, Peru, India, Kenya and Guatemala preserve cultural traditions and make a positive impact on their communities by buying their fair trade goods; and
- Benefiting Scenic Rivers—your local land trust working to protect our county’s natural and scenic spaces. Mango + Main will donate 10% of all sales from the evening to Scenic Rivers!
See what we mean? Win-win-win-win! Gather your friends and get ready to party with purpose for land conservation!
The event is free to attend, but space is limited, so RSVP soon!
Event Details
Date:
Thursday, November 14, 2019
Time:
6:30 pm to 8:30 pm
Location:
Mango + Main, 88 Maryland Avenue, Annapolis, Maryland 21401
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- Land Preservation: How Does It Work? If you missed the Severn River Association's John Wright Speaker Series event in July featuring Scenic Rivers' Rick Leader and Sarah Knebel, you can watch a video of their presentation via SRA's speaker series archive on their website.
- Bob Gallagher, 2019 Kabler Award Winner. We are thrilled to see that our former board member, Bob Gallagher, is the recipient of the Maryland League of Conservation Voters 2019 John V. Kabler Memorial Award. Read more about the award and Bob's excellent work as an environmental advocate in Anne Arundel County on the MLCV website.
- Towne Salute: Jenn Troy. Check out this article in What's Up? Magazine celebrating our former board member Jennifer Troy and her work with Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay. Jenn was instrumental in making the Walk for the Woods an enduring success!
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