The mission of the Howard County Conservancy is to educate children and adults about the natural world, to preserve the land and its legacy for future generations and to model responsible stewardship of our environment.
Heather and Rob Photography
For more than 30 years as a local nonprofit, the Conservancy has worked to connect people to nature. We steward a 232-acre historic farmstead, where we offer nature programming at our environmental education center and on our grounds. The Conservancy’s Nature Preschool welcomes small naturalists at Belmont Historic Park in Elkridge. And the Conservancy manages more than 2,000 acres of Howard County land placed in perpetual conservation.
The Howard County Conservancy’s Mt. Pleasant farmstead sits high over the lush Patapsco River valley in Howard County, Maryland. We acknowledge all those who have passed through or settled on this soil. For centuries, this land was stewarded by Eastern Woodland Indian tribes, then settled by colonists and worked by enslaved people. As the present environmental stewards, we hold dear our responsibility to the land.
In 1990, a group of county residents passionate about preserving land formed the Howard County Conservancy. In 1993, the Conservancy accepted the gift of the Mt. Pleasant farmstead from Ruth and Frances Brown, who left the property for preservation and education.
Ruth and Frances Brown, the last direct descendants of the first colonial resident, Thomas Browne, lived on the farm all their lives and each taught for nearly 50 years in the local schools. Both sisters died without heirs in the early 1990s and asked in their wills to have their property preserved.
The historic farmstead includes original outbuildings: a carriage house, blacksmith shop, bank barn, wagon shed, corn crib, smokehouse, chicken coop, guinea fowl coop, ice house foundation and outhouse. Montjoy Barn, a 1700s hand-hewn oak structure slated for destruction on another property, was restored, then reassembled at Mt. Pleasant.
The Howard County Conservancy has labored for decades to help this land become, again, a biodiverse nature preserve. Sharp eyes have spotted 68 different species of butterfly here. The beaver, fox, otter, owls, viceroy butterflies and bolas spiders seen at Mt. Pleasant are evidence of the biodiversity that is drawn to lands stewarded with habitat restoration and native plantings.
Our gardens, fields, forests and 5 miles of trails are open sunrise to sunset daily. All visitors are welcome, free, to our grounds, and can visit our goats, chickens and owls. Our nature center plays host to educational exhibits, including a rescued terrapin. The lands serve as refuge from encroaching suburbia, allowing visitors to both remember the past and envision the future.
The Conservancy offers public environmental education for all ages, including bird walks, a pollinator festival, guided hikes, field trips and other student programming.
Connecting young people to nature is essential for their future and for the future of our planet in a climate crisis. The Conservancy offers a Nature Preschool where students are outside nearly all day, discovering the wonders of ice crystals and caterpillars, milkweed seed pods and salamanders. Elementary and secondary school field trips allow students
Our Commitment to Justice, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Our mission calls us to fully honor, respect and include people of all races, cultures, communities, religions, ages, sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions, languages, and people with physical or developmental differences.
As an advocate and steward of the environment, we have a duty to be intentional around these matters. We acknowledge and condemn a history of systemic racism and other forms of inequity, injustice and oppression. We pledge to work consciously to connect people of all backgrounds to the natural world.
Mt. Pleasant is home to our nature preserve and the Gudelsky Environmental Education Center. We acknowledge that Mt. Pleasant farm was worked by enslaved people. For centuries before colonists arrived, Indigenous people, such as members of the Susquehannock and Piscataway tribes, camped, fished, hunted and traveled through this property. Indigenous stewardship of these lands, which were taken from the tribes by colonial powers, is a model for a right relationship with the earth.
The Howard County Conservancy will strive to:
- continuously review and remove barriers to access, making our spaces and programs welcoming to all.
- reflect the multiculturalism of our community in our programming.
- develop clear strategies to ensure our board, staff, and volunteers mirror the diversity of the community we serve.
- emphasize and act on the principles of equity and justice in every aspect of our mission.
Environmental justice is a right, not a privilege. Everyone deserves a life free of environmental and health hazards and should have equal access to a healthy environment, irrespective of socio-economic status or background.
Nature welcomes everyone, and everyone belongs in nature.
to learn about climate justice, biodiversity, amphibians and wetlands. Our summer camps for ages 3 to 12 teach about plants, birds, water and STEM while offering plenty of outdoor time. The Climate KNOWledge program gets middle-schoolers into the forest to measure trees and learn about food production’s effect on climate.
Conservancy programs reach far beyond Howard County. Ournationwide Youth Climate Institute (YCI) offers high school students the chance to work–with hope–on the urgent problem of climate change. YCI certifies student ambassadors on climate science and climate action at a pivotal time for their college and career goals. Students learn from environmental scientists and complete action projects that range from lobbying for climate legislation and organizing used clothing swaps to planting trees and encouraging composting programs.
In addition to welcoming visitors of all ages to its 232 acres, the Conservancy manages more than 2,000 acres of environmentally sensitive lands across the county that have been placed in permanent conservation. We’re preserving and tending lands on our historic acreage and beyond our property boundaries for generations that haven’t yet been born.
With the help of a dedicated cadre of volunteers, the Conservancy is able to offer its programs thanks to its partners and donors.
Read about our 2025 Accomplishments and our 2025 Annual Report for details about our programs and finances.
Feel free to contact us with any questions about the Howard County Conservancy.
More than three decades ago, the Conservancy was a young organization focused on land conservation when Mt. Pleasant became our home base. Thanks to the support of our community, we’ve grown tremendously since then.
