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How is ACLT Addressing Climate Change?
The validity of climate change is no longer up for debate. Our climate is undoubtedly changing, and the harmful effects are intensifying around the world. As stewards of the land, organizations like ACLT are uniquely positioned to address this ongoing crisis. With climate impacts already disrupting ecosystems and communities, it is more important than ever that we take meaningful steps toward both mitigating climate change and adapting to it. Read on to see how ACLT is taking action to combat climate change and protect our environment.
Mitigation
Although climate change has become an inescapable reality, efforts to mitigate its effects are not in vain. Mitigation is necessary for reducing the harm promised by a changing climate, and ACLT contributes to these efforts in the following ways:
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Preserving Essential Habitats
Climate change threatens all species on Earth, but those living in fragmented habitats are especially vulnerable to its effects. At ACLT, we strive to strengthen the resilience of the region’s species by preserving contiguous plots of land throughout the Parkers Creek and Governors Run watersheds. Currently, ACLT has preserved over 3,500 acres of land, all of which offer critical habitat for native species and comprise the largest wildlife hub and the only Tier 1 BioNet Area in Calvert County. As defined by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources, Tier 1 BioNet Areas are “critically significant for biodiversity conservation.” In its ongoing land preservation efforts, ACLT actively seeks to identify corridors linking other potential wildlife hubs to expand contiguous protected areas and strengthen the region's climate resilience.
Maximizing Carbon Sequestration and Storage
The vast majority of ACLT's preserved land is made up of permanently protected forests. These forests store roughly 215,000 tons of carbon and remove an additional 2,000 tons of atmospheric carbon each year. ACLT staff and volunteers monitor and manage these forests to maximize their carbon-removing capabilities and allow for natural succession to an old-growth forest condition. Furthermore, permanently protecting these lands has prevented emissions that would result from development, deforestation, and the ongoing energy demands of a developed area.
Reducing our Emissions
Although ACLT operates with relatively minimal greenhouse gas emissions, we believe every small effort to reduce emissions is helpful in our collective effort to combat climate change. To reduce its carbon footprint, ACLT has adopted cleaner energy solutions, including solar power and battery-operated tools. In 2022, solar panels were installed on the main barn at the North Side Trailhead, supplying 100% of the energy used by ACLT's main office. A solar panel installed on ACLT's Yoe property powers the historic farmhouse that is currently rented to ACLT's annual Corps members, young professionals completing a year of service at ACLT. At Double Oak Farm, a smaller solar panel powers the electric fence that surrounds the one-acre regenerative farm. In addition, ACLT has added battery-operated tools, including a weed whacker, lawn mower, and chainsaws, to its rotation of regular gas powered tools. ACLT remains committed to expanding these cleaner energy solutions as part of its sustainability goals.
Forming Local and Regional Partnerships
Because climate change knows no man-made boundaries, effective adaptation requires collaboration among communities and organizations. For this reason, in 2021, ACLT launched the Southern Maryland Conservation Alliance (SMCA) to coordinate and fortify regional conservation efforts against climate change. SMCA is composed of over 50 local land trusts, non-governmental organizations, and government agencies across the five-county Southern Maryland region. Read more about the mission and goals of SMCA here.
Adaptation
ACLT has been feeling the effects of climate change, with extreme weather events worsening, native species becoming threatened, invasive species thriving, and many more challenges. These current impacts–along with those that the future holds–necessitate adaptation to maintain our conservation goals. ACLT is pursuing several adaptive strategies to address climate change:
Providing Green Infrastructure
With climate change bringing about more intense weather events, we see increased stormwater runoff from urban areas. Higher levels of runoff carry more pollutants to our waterways and threaten the health of the species inhabiting them. Green infrastructure is a means of capturing and filtering this polluted runoff, and it can be implimented in various ways. On a small scale, green infrastructure might look like rain barrels or rain gardens, serving to collect and drain rainwater at the individual level. ACLT implements green infrastructure on the landscape level via land preservation. By protecting land around the Prince Frederick Town Center, ACLT helps filter rainwater runoff from our local urban areas, reducing the amount of pollution that reaches our streams and the Bay.
Creating Native Meadows
ACLT actively maintains approximately 46 acres of meadows across four properties, including meadow buffers that have been planted to control stormwater runoff from agricultural fields. Meadows are examples of early successional habitats–areas that develop after a disturbance, such as land clearing caused by humans or natural events. Without active management, these meadows gradually transition into young forests as trees begin to take over. Preventing the natural succession of meadows into forested areas provides a wide range of environmental and ecological benefits that play a role in climate change adaptation. The diverse plant life found within native meadows creates resilient ecosystems that offer critical food and shelter for a variety of wildlife, including birds and pollinators. Meadows also enhance soil health by increasing organic matter, improving water filtration, and limiting erosion–a phenomenon worsened by the intense weather events that accompany climate change. To maintain these valuable ecosystems and combat the impacts of a changing climate, ACLT uses a range of land management practices, including controlled burns, mowing, and the removal of invasive species and encroaching trees. These efforts are carefully timed throughout the year to ensure habitat integrity while protecting the wildlife that depend on these early successional landscapes.
Removing Invasive Species
Climate change has exacerbated the presence of invasive species on ACLT-owned and managed lands, threatening the ability of key native species to thrive. To combat this issue, ACLT staff and volunteers engage in regular invasive species removal. Recently, these efforts have been directed toward the invasive wavyleaf basket grass (left), which has established a relatively widespread presence in the past few years, as well as invasive vines and phragmites which continue to burden native species.
Farming Sustainably
Conventional farming can be destructive to the environment, leading to landscape degradation and increasing greenhouse gas emissions. By utilizing sustainable methods of farming, ACLT not only decreases agriculture’s contribution to atmospheric greenhouse gasses but also increases the resilience of our food system against our changing climate. ACLT partakes in the sustainable agriculture movement by running a one-acre regenerative farm, from which we donate weekly harvests to a local food pantry. Some sustainable practices used on the farm include on-site composting, using organic pesticides and herbicides, regularly planting cover crops, and various other regenerative techniques.​
