The Sussex County Land Trust recounted its expanding efforts to protect open space countywide and unveiled a fundraiser March 28 during its annual meeting.

The boundaries of the nonprofit land trust, founded in 2001, match those of Sussex County. It has raised about $4 million to protect about 6,000 acres of land and works with the county government on projects.

John Rieley, vice president of Sussex County Council, said the county contributes $6 million annually to open space preservation, which helps fund the work of the land trust.

Rieley and Councilwoman Jane Gruenebaum are honorary members of the land trust board and were among nearly 30 people attending the annual meeting at the Clubhouse at Baywood Greens in Long Neck.

Trustee Harold Carmean II outlined a new fundraising program at the meeting.

“For me, one of the reasons I serve on the board and accepted this position is, I love the beauty of Sussex County, all the nature, open space, the beaches, the farmland, the trees and nature – all of it,” Carmean said.

In the fastest-growing county in the state, where farmlands and forests are being gobbled up by developments, he said the land trust helps to preserve open space. 

“I also love the prosperity that the development has brought on,” Carmean said. “It’s good to everyone in the county and everyone who has moved. And I don’t believe that those two things are mutually exclusive. They can coexist together. That’s why we want to keep a more amicable partnership between, essentially, the two sides.”

SCLT Executive Director Sara Bluhm said March 31 the donor benefit program does not have a specific financial goal but is intended to boost ongoing private donations.

The land trust receives about $100,000 to $150,000 in private donations toward its nearly $5 million budget, she said. 

“The public can be a part of what we’re doing,” Carmean said.

“Every bit helps,” he said. “Especially when it comes to maintaining all of those properties.”

The program is built around four partnership levels that offer more benefits for more contributions, such as invitations and tickets to special events; naming rights for buildings, trails and benches; and invitations to annual meetings. 

Before Carmean’s explanation of the fundraising program, Ring Lardner, chair of the board of trustees, gave updates on projects. They were:

• Work on Phase 3 of Stephen P. Hudson Park at Route 9 and Cool Spring Road west of Lewes includes a bathhouse, more parking and playground amenities being added this year
• Drainage work is planned for the 52-acre Hopkins Preserve off Sweetbriar Road west of Lewes. Features include hiking and biking trails, a forest, meadows, pond and wetlands. Work on the entrance should start in June, and the site will be opened to the public
• The trust completed trails at the Forest of the Broadkill Preserve in Milton. The county bought three contiguous parcels covering more than 290 acres of fields and hardwoods off Gravel Hill and Shingle Point roads. It should be open to the public this year
• Sussex County provided $2,650,000 to acquire in September the Layfield Tract adjacent to Dagsboro, where a high-density housing development had been proposed. Some of the site will be reforested, but most will remain in farming
• Ard na Greine features 88 acres contiguous to Canary Creek and the Lewes-to-Georgetown Trail between Savannah Road and New Road in Lewes. As it is one of the last remaining open-space properties in the Lewes area, the trust began a fund drive two years ago to raise $8.5 million to purchase the parcel, which is surrounded by development
• Groundbreaking was held in November for Nanticoke Crossing Park, four miles west of Seaford along the Nanticoke River. Trailhead parking lot improvements are planned in the spring. Engineering work will begin in the spring to permit and design kayak access
• Work has begun to restore the Cannon-Maston House, one of the oldest brick houses in the county, dating back to 1727 in Ickford Park north of Seaford.