The TNC Taylor project is a 692 acre USDA NRCS Wetlands Reserve Program easement located in Wicomico County, Maryland in the headwaters of Nassawango Creek. This restoration was accomplished by a partnership of The Nature Conservancy, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, USDA NRCS, and the Western Maryland RC&D. When it was enrolled, the easement contained 365 acres of cropland, 315 acres of woodland, and 12 acres of old fields. The goal was to restore wetlands to the natural historic conditions, to the extent practical. Hydrology and natural flow paths were restored on 301 acres of wetlands, mostly within cropland, by a combination of ditch plugs, ditch fills, shallow excavation, and small berms.
Tree plantings on 296 acres were representative of four distinct, naturally occurring forest communities – Atlantic white cedar swamps, inland sand dune and ridge woodlands, palustrine coastal plain non-riverine hardwoods, and bald cypress-gum swamps. Another 72 acres was established as emergent wetlands and meadow to provide habitat for grassland birds, pollinators, waterfowl, wading birds, and other early successional habitat species. Two sections of channelized streams draining 1,000-acre watersheds were converted to 2-stage ditches to provide water quality improvements. The Nature Conservancy owns the property, and will use it to demonstrate ecological restoration and restoration design techniques.