FINZEL — Imagine a peaceful breeze and the croak of spring peepers as you walk down a nature trail on a warm April day.
That will soon be the reality for locals and visitors alike.
As spring begins to bloom, local conservation efforts are beginning to take shape across Western Maryland.
The Nature Conservancy hosted an orientation for the Volunteer Stewardship Program at the Finzel Swamp Preserve in Garrett County recently, furthering efforts to protect the area’s rare ecosystem.
The Nature Conservancy owns and manages the conservation of several ecologically significant properties in Maryland, with thousands of other preserves across the United States and throughout 80 countries.
Finzel Swamp contains several locally rare species.
Caity Embly, a conservationist from The Nature Conservancy, said protecting the area is vital to its longevity.
“We want people to love and experience these places,” Embly said.
Through volunteering and visiting places like Finzel, Embly thinks that growing awareness and care for the region’s unique ecology can grow.
With protection comes the need for volunteers — thus, the program was born.
“I’m hoping that this will be a way for you guys in the community to say, ‘Hey, let’s do something about this,” Embly told volunteers at the orientation.
Embly said that due to a limited number of staff members in the region, volunteers are crucial eyes and ears for what goes on at the preserve.
“There’s so much to do in conservation in the natural world,” Embly said. “There’s a place for everyone.”
One of the main priorities of growing the stewardship program in Western Maryland is to get people to enjoy the preserves and care about what goes on with them.
“Our intention is not to just take a bunch of land and lock it up so no one can use it,” Embly said.
Unique ecology
Deborah Landau, the director of Ecological Management for the Maryland/DC region of The Nature Conservancy, has been studying the Finzel preserve for decades. She said the area is home to a large number of rare species that need to be protected.
Some of those include the American Larch, a deciduous conifer; the Alder flycatcher, a rare bird species; and the ever-elusive bobcat.
Due to its location in what is known as a “frost pocket,” the swamp contains flora and fauna more commonly seen much farther north, according to The Nature Conservancy.
“It’s absolutely beautiful, and it’s a cool little peak into a boreal environment,” Landau said.
The preserve sits in a geographic depression, which traps cold air and precipitation, making it much colder and wetter than the surrounding area.
Landau’s first project at the Finzel Swamp was in the early 2000s, when she transformed the road that originally bisected the swamp into a pedestrian trail.
“We put in those big openings and little mini boardwalks,” she said. “So restoring the hydrology has been a big part of what we’ve been doing.”
By allowing water to properly flow through the swamp, trees such as the American Larch can thrive, along with other species that could be affected by the swamp’s hydrology.
Landau said that an increased volunteer presence will give researchers “a better sense of how the different animals and plants are doing.”
With each visit, volunteers send in a report to the conservancy to report things such as animal sightings or trail damage.
This includes reports of invasive species that may damage the area’s biodiversity.
“The more people that go at different times of the day, the more observations we’ll get of who and what is utilizing the preserve,” Landau said.
Other area preserves
In the future, Embly and Landau said that expanding the stewardship program to other public preserves in the area is a priority.
The Cranesville Swamp Preserve that straddles the border between Preston County, West Virginia, and Garrett County is a prime target for expansion.
“Absolutely we’d love to replicate it at the Cranesville Swamp and other preserves across the state,” Landau said.
The Cranesville Swamp is very similar to the topography and ecology of the Finzel Swamp.
One of the main differences between the two, according to Landau, is the prevalence of carnivorous plants like sundews and pitcher plants at the Cranesville Swamp.
Finzel and Cranesville are also home to some of the southernmost populations of American Larch trees.
“They’re the only places in Maryland that have native larch trees,” Landau said.
To learn more about The Nature Conservancy and more volunteer opportunities, visit their website.
To visit the Finzel Swamp Preserve, follow Cranberry Swamp Road off of Maryland Route 546, directly behind Eastern Garrett County Recreational Park in Finzel.
There will be a public spruce tree planting event at the Cranesville Swamp Preserve on April 18th and 19th.