ACCIDENT - Three Garrett County farms may be able to be preserved thanks to a $1 million grant from the state's Rural Legacy program.

"We got the form last week," Chad Fike, planner with the Garrett County Department of Planning and Zoning, said. "It goes toward the Bear Creek watershed, near Accident. It will be used to preserve farms, purchasing conservation easements."

Rural Legacy is a state-run program that grants awards to area land trusts and local governments, permanently restricting farm land from future development by purchasing conservation easements.

The program assesses the value of the land as a farm as well as its value for development. Rural Legacy funds are used to pay the difference, buying the development rights from the farm's owner. From that point on, the owner can still farm just as before, even selling it for continued use as a farm, but cannot sell any portion of the land to developers.

The money that Garrett County is receiving this year is one of the largest grants so far, Fike said. Usually, the county is given enough to preserve a single farm at a time.

"We don't have tons of money to do it all the time," Fike said. "In the past, it's only been enough for about one farm at a time, but this could possibly cover three, depending on their size."

Fike said that the county is also involved in Ag Land preservation, which is not an area-specific program.

It is expected that the more than $26 million in Rural Legacy grants that has been announced throughout the state will preserve 4,535 acres of land statewide.

"The Rural Legacy Program is exceptional because it allows local governments and nonprofits to identify and plan for preservation at the local level through a grass-roots process," Gov. Robert Ehrlich said. "This community-up approach also supports more efficient and effective state government, allowing us to preserve more land and make Maryland a greener, better place to live."

Sarah Moses can be reached at smoses@times-news.com.