Instead, in the summer they established the Anchovie Hills Wildlife Sanctuary -- a rural oasis for present and future generations of deer, opossums, raccoons, bluebirds, owls, quail, hawks and other indigenous animals.
![[Anchovie Hills Wildlife Sanctuary]](images/anchovie2.jpg)
"I thought that if I can do one thing before I leave this earth, I want to leave one little patch of green to stay in as natural a state as possible," said Zoeter, who grew up on the former tobacco farm her family has owned for more than 150 years. "And the animals that live on it can live in peace."
Toward that end, the Zoeters in August sold the state of Maryland a conservation easement on their land in return for $421,818 and a state pledge to permanently protect it from commercial and residential development. Although the family maintains ownership and can sell the property -- which fronts on Croom and Magruder Ferry roads -- no future owner will be permitted to subdivide it. The land is not accessible to the public, and Zoeter's property taxes are likely to decrease somewhat because land that can't be developed usually is appraised for less than developable land.
Zoeter, president of the Action for Animals Network -- a Northern Virginia organization aimed at protecting animals -- may be one of the last beneficiaries of the program that funded her easement purchase. That initiative -- launched by former governor Parris N. Glendening (D) as the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) -- has not been funded in the current budget of Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. (R).
"All of the easement programs are being evaluated," said Maryland Department of Natural Resources official Pam Bush, who oversees the CREP easement program. "All of the programs have had cuts in the budget because of the budget deficit," which is about $800 million.
"A lot of money for these funds have been cut drastically," said Brandywine resident and environmentalist Joanne Flynn, who heads the Greater Black Swamp Land Conservation Group, formed in 2001 to acquire protective easements. "Mary's easement is important because this is a rural area that's close to a huge metropolitan area and is continually being threatened by development. We need to protect our resources in order to have clean water and clean air."
Zoeter also arranged for a secondary easement on her land with the Humane Society of the United States through the Society's Wildlife Land Trust.
![[Barn]](images/anchovie1.jpg)
"Our focus is making sure no one ever legally hunts on the property," said Steve Swartz, Wildlife Land Trust general counsel.
Zoeter's arrangement with the trust is the only one of its kind in the state, Swartz said. "I think it's wonderful Mary and her sons chose to do this. Mary truly wants to make sure wildlife is protected on the property," he said.
Zoeter said crops are no longer being grown on the former family farm, which eventually evolved from a tobacco farm to one that grew grains. The farm had always been called "Anchovie Hills," she said, although she doesn't know the origin of the unusual name. Growing up in the country was wonderful, she said.
"I think about running through the wheat field with the family dog, and making mud pies," she said. "It was a very positive experience."
Several dwellings remain on the land, along with a chicken house and a number of tobacco barns. There's also a family graveyard on the property where her grandmother is buried, and possibly an early African American graveyard on the land, although she hasn't found it.
"I have a collection of Indian artifacts my dad found when he was farming," Zoeter said. "Arrowheads and pieces of pipes and oyster shells. It's less than a mile from the Patuxent River."
Chris Pupke, an official of the Chesapeake Wildlife Heritage, one of the organizations that helped develop the agreement between Zoeter and the state's department of natural resources, said that Zoeter was spurred by her love of animals.
"I think Mary's real motivation is to help protect the individual species of wildlife that live on her farm," Pupke said. "She's so dedicated to animals and their well-being, she decided this was the best thing she could do."
As part of its involvement, the Wildlife Heritage helped build bluebird nesting structures on the farm. Another environmental organization, the quasi-public Maryland Environmental Trust, is also a party to the easement.
"Our chief business is educating landowners and interesting them in the donation of conservation easements . . . to prevent their private properties from future development," Environmental Trust official Nick Williams said.
![[Mary]](images/anchovie3.jpg)
"Two factors have led to reductions in funding for those programs," Williams said. "One is that the economy has deteriorated quite a bit in the last few years, and the other is we have a new administration which is still in the process of determining its land conservation priorities."
Williams -- whose organization assists about 50 local land trusts statewide -- said he hopes Zoeter's actions will inspire others to consider preserving their rural land. He noted that while Zoeter's agreement is "fairly restrictive," not all easements need to be.
"Often a landowner of property that size will want to reserve something for the future in the way of development rights, in the right to build a house or two houses," he said.
But Zoeter, he said, was determined to prevent hunting or trapping on her land.
"She's one of the few I've encountered with that passion for animal welfare," Williams said. Zoeter said her sons, Garrick and Mark, were amenable to her desire to preserve the land despite its commercial value.
"I have a file of people who've wanted to buy the property," she said. "A lot of letters from real estate companies who wanted to buy it."
"Mary really took the longest possible view of her property's future," Williams said. "In doing so, she contributes not only to the perpetuation of her property as open space and wildlife habitat, but she also helps to establish a land conservation beachhead in southern Prince George's County . . . that hopefully will lead to other private land conservation decisions."