Vermont Land Trust Press Release - Local Towns Help Conserve Land

For Immediate Release: February 5, 2007
For more information, please contact:
Elise Annes, Vice President for Community Relations at 802-223-5234
Mark McEathron, Central Vermont Regional Director at 802-223-5234

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Local Towns Help Conserve Land

February 5, 2007, EAST MONTPELIER – The landscape is slowly changing in Central Vermont, and some towns are taking action to protect what makes them unique. This week, two landowners, Sandy Holt of Plainfield and Richard Hall, owner of Fairmont Farm in East Montpelier, conserved 255 acres of farmland with support from the two towns and the Vermont Housing and Conservation Board (VHCB), the Vermont Land Trust announced today.

Sandy Holt’s Plainfield farm is separated into two parcels, with the main parcel along Country Club Road and a smaller parcel on Lower Road. The farm has been in her family for sixty years, and family memories associated with the land are very strong. Yet with Sandy retired from farming for nearly a decade, and no family member interested in farming the land, its future was uncertain. After renting the land from Sandy for the last decade, Richard Hall knew he was interested in owning the land, but the cost was too high.

“Land is getting so expensive that we couldn’t afford to buy this land at its development value,” said Richard, “But this is nice agricultural land, and it’s been farmed for two hundred years. Having it stay in farming for the future makes sense.”

Working in collaboration, the Vermont Land Trust, the towns, and VHCB developed a strategy to protect 79 acres of the Holt farm and two nearby parcels along Route 2 owned by Fairmont Farm. The larger 159-acre parcel in East Montpelier nearly touches the Holt farm. A 17 acre parcel in Plainfield, across from the former Tofani Furniture building, is just up the road.

The town of East Montpelier contributed $10,000 from its Town Conservation Fund towards the East Montpelier parcel, and the Town of Plainfield contributed $3,000 from its Conservation Fund toward conservation of the Holt farm. Immediately following the sale of development rights, Fairmont Farms purchased the conserved Holt land, ensuring that it stays in farming.

Portions of the lands contain segments of the old Montpelier-Wells River railroad bed, the planned location for the Cross Vermont Trail. Fairmont Farms agreed to allow this future use, though many other landowners will need to sign on before the trail can be created.

“Not only is the farmland being conserved,” said Sue Chickering, Chair of East Montpelier’s Conservation Fund Advisory Committee, “but we are also taking a step towards creating a great future recreational resource.”

“The residents of Plainfield have made it clear that we value our open space and farmland,” commented Allen Clark, a member of the Plainfield Conservation Commission. “Spending money to help bring that about shows that we’re serious about it.”

With the addition of the Holt/Fairmont farm, there are now a combined twelve conserved farms in Plainfield and East Montpelier, demonstrating in part the strength of the agricultural economy in central Vermont. Just a few months ago “TC” and Helen Clark in East Montpelier conserved their 71-acre farm with VLT. The farm has been in the Clark family for over sixty years and the farmland is now leased to other area farms, including Seth and Michelle Gardner who grow forage for their East Montpelier dairy farm. In addition to selling a conservation easement, the Clarks also transferred a trail easement to allow for future extension of East Montpelier’s trail system.
The Vermont Land Trust helped these landowners conserve their land through the use of a conservation easement. An easement helps landowners voluntarily limit development on productive farmland and forestland, and other meaningful natural and community places. Landowners continue to own, manage, and pay taxes on the land and can sell their land; however, the conservation easement permanently remains on the property. To date, the Vermont Land Trust has helped conserve over 3,200 acres of farmland and forests in East Montpelier and 900 acres in Plainfield.

“Preserving active farmland so as to assure a working agricultural landscape has been a long-standing and well supported goal of East Montpelier citizens,” commented Edie Miller, chair of the East Montpelier Select Board. “We’re pleased to be able to be part of this cooperative effort to see this land enter its third century of productivity.”

The Vermont Land Trust is a nonprofit organization that works with individuals, organizations, and communities to conserve land for the future of Vermont. In the past 29 years, VLT has helped conserve more than 1,300 parcels of land covering over 455,000 acres, or about 8% of the private, undeveloped land in the state. The conserved land includes more than 600 working farms, hundreds of thousands of acres of productive forestland, and numerous parcels of community lands. This conservation work changes the lives of families, invigorates farms, launches new businesses, maintains scenic vistas, encourages recreational opportunity, and fosters a renewed sense of community. For more information, call (802) 223-5234 or visit VLT on the web at www.vlt.org.