2025 MD General Assembly Wrap-Up

For Eastern Shore Land Conservancy, protecting open space, farmland, forests, and natural resources doesn’t stop at the property line—it requires strong policies and consistent funding at the state level. Once again this year, ESLC met with key legislators and government agencies in advance of and during Maryland’s General Assembly to ensure that our conservation priorities—and the programs that support them—would continue to be prioritized in a particularly challenging budget year.  

In addition to providing testimony for key legislative policies, ESLC organized a broad coalition of conservation organizations to beat back a proposal to eliminate all funding for Program Open Space programs for the next four years. While our efforts to protect Program Open Space were largely successful, the key programs that protect farmland, MALPF and Rural Legacy, sustained significant cuts. 

Farmland protection emerged as a central theme in contentious debates around energy legislation, particularly the Renewable Energy Certainty Act (SB931). A last-minute provision in the bill proposed granting local jurisdictions the authority to oversee solar siting decisions — but only after a certain threshold of farmland acreage had already been converted to solar use. While the concept of returning local control and establishing a cap on farmland conversion was initially welcomed, ESLC and other members of the agricultural and conservation community ultimately found the proposal too flawed to support. 

Despite our combined testimony, SB931 passed; concern over farmland conversion continues. Leading agricultural organizations—including the Maryland Farm Bureau, Delmarva Chicken Association, and the newly formed Farmers for Rural Maryland—are now urging the Governor’s Office to take a stronger stand to safeguard agricultural lands from unchecked solar development and are formally calling on him to veto the legislation, a position supported by ESLC. 

At ESLC, protecting the Eastern Shore’s landscapes means showing up — not just on the land, but in Annapolis. This session, we stood firm for conservation funding and responsible energy policy, rallying partners, informing lawmakers, and defending key conservation programs. Protecting land on the Eastern Shore means more than preserving what we see today — it means shaping the policies that protect the future of the farmland, forests, parks, and towns that make this place so special. ESLC is committed to growing our advocacy efforts to be a voice for all we hold dear here on the Shore.