Project
Stifler Memorial Conservation Area on Deer Creek
In 1994 the Harford Land Trust purchased 34 acres of Deer Creek frontage between US Route 1 and Palmer State Park for $150,000. The sellers were F. Royston Stifler, Jr., now of Barnstable, Mass., and his sisters, Ann S. Pearce now of Bel Air, Md., and Kathryn S. Boniface and her husband, Harry J. Boniface, Jr., of Middletown, Md.. All three grew up in Harford County and are the children of the late F. Royston Stifler, Sr., and the late Katherine H. Stifler of Bel Air. Mr. Stifler, Sr., a civil engineer and private land surveyor, deeded the Deer Creek property to his children in 1975.
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The property can be reached from the southern end of Old Forge Hill Road by a trail through Palmer State Park. Access from US Route 1 is also possible by means of a dirt track immediately North of Deer Creek.
From the narrow floodplain along Deer Creek, one of seven State Scenic Rivers, the land rises sharply as rocky, heavily wooded slopes. Majestic stands of large deciduous trees (mostly tulip poplar and oaks) cover the hillsides and overlook a striking section of Deer Creek. This property was the site of an early 18th century iron forge sometimes known as "Cumberland Forge".
According to Roy Stifler, Jr., the forge was near the site of the original US Route 1 crossing, a covered bridge whose abutments are still visible. The forge became a thriving center with a general store and a gristmill, but the iron works ceased operations about 1878.
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Photo: Harford Land Trust
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The Trust was attracted by this land's spectacular natural scenery, beautiful whitewater suitable for canoeing and kayaking in season, proximity to Palmer State Park, and large numbers of birds. Fifty-one species of interior woodlands birds have been heard or seen on the property. Together with adjacent Palmer State Park, the tract is one of the few large blocks of dense woodland surviving in Harford County.
Fragmentation of dense forests by development, land-clearing, farming and forestry in the Western Hemisphere is a primary cause of the decline of songbird species depending from large, dense woodland habitat. These species cannot survive in fringe-forests left by most human land uses. The great decline of migratory bird species in the US is a result of this global problem.
The Trust's primary objectives are to maintain the area as a natural woodland permanently free of development, for wildlife habitat and low-intensity recreational use. In 1995, HLT sold this property to the State of Maryland for inclusion in Palmer State Park. The State paid $150,000 for this land, plus $16,000 for about three quarter of HLT's aquisition and management costs over the previous four years. The Maryland Park Service manages the Stifler land as a significant feature of Palmer State Park.
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Birdwatcher's Paradise at Stifler Site
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