Photo Courtesy of Sarah Kipp
Marsh Creek Land Preserved in Adams County PA
On its way to meet the Monocacy River on the south side of the Mason Dixon Line, Marsh Creek meanders through the woodlands and pasturelands of southwestern Adams County—serving as one of the county’s major sources of drinking water and, in many areas, draining farms that have been under cultivation since before the Civil War.
One of these farms—the 159-acre Brown Farm in Highland Township—has been a priority for protection for many years. In fact, significant effort was made in the mid-2000s to include it among the many properties adjoining Marsh Creek preserved through the Land Conservancy of Adams County with funding from an $850,000 grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection—a project that prompted the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to give its Source Water Protection Award to the Land Conservancy, the first nongovernmental organization to be so honored.
In June 2020, the Brown Farm finally joined this cluster of preserved properties along Marsh Creek, bringing the total protected acreage along the creek to more than 1,100.
Land Conservation Funders
$199,691 USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service: Agricultural Conservation Easement Program
$70,000 Highland Township, Adams County
$47,000 Adams County Green Space Grant Program
$40,309 Land Conservancy of Adams County