Patton honored by Coastal Bays for contributions

Tom Patton (Feb. 5, 2010) The Maryland Coastal Bays Program has awarded the Golden Osprey Award to Tom Patton for his lifelong commitment to preserving the area’s natural and cultural heritage.

Patton has served on the Coastal Bays Fisheries Advisory Committee and has assisted with blue crab issues and growth-related concerns. He was one of the driving forces behind the state and Worcester County seeking the coastal bays program’s acceptance into the National Estuary Program.

The announcement from the Coastal Bays Program said Patton helped lobby Congress in the 1960s to create the Assateague Island National Seashore and was a participant in the Committee to Preserve Assateague Island, now known as the Assateague Coastal Trust. He was the driving force behind moving that group from Baltimore to Berlin and changing its focus to include the coastal bays watershed.

Patton published the book “Listen to the Voices, Follow the Trails - Discovering Maryland’s Seaside Heritage,” an account of the natural and cultural history of Maryland’s seacoast. In 2004, he created the nonprofit Rackliffe House Trust with the goal to restore the former plantation house into a coastal heritage museum. He has volunteered with the Maryland Historical Society, the Lower Eastern Shore Heritage Committee, St. Martin’s Church Preservation Foundation, and serves on the board of ACT.

The MCBP will honor Patton at the Globe on Feb. 18, at 6 p.m. Tickets cost $20 for MCBP members and $25 for non-members, and must be purchased by Feb. 8. To purchase tickets, contact Anita Ferguson at aferguson@mdcoastalbays.org or 410-213-2297, Ext. 109.